Biocatalyzed Redox Processes Employing Green Reaction Media

Abstract

<jats:p>The application of biocatalysts to perform reductive/oxidative chemical processes has attracted great interest in recent years, due to their environmentally friendly conditions combined with high selectivities. In some circumstances, the aqueous buffer medium normally employed in biocatalytic procedures is not the best option to develop these processes, due to solubility and/or inhibition issues, requiring biocatalyzed redox procedures to circumvent these drawbacks, by developing novel green non-conventional media, including the use of biobased solvents, reactions conducted in neat conditions and the application of neoteric solvents such as deep eutectic solvents.</jats:p>

Biocatalysis in ionic liquids: state-of-the-union

“…in biodiesel production from triglycerides 13 and a variety of biocatalytic oxidations and reductions. 14 Various mono-and bi-phasic solvent systems have been proposed as alternatives for volatile organic solvents with undesirable ecological properties. 15,16,17 These include, for example, solvents derived from renewable raw materials, such as bio-ethanol, 18 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, 19 γ-valerolactone (GVL) 20 and cyrene (dihydrolevoglucosenon), 21,22 glycerol, 23 and glycerol derivatives such as glycerol carbonate.…”

“…94 DESs have also been widely used in biocatalytic redox processes. 14 For example, a ChCl/Gly/aqueous buffer mixture was successfully used as the solvent for the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones catalysed by Baker's yeast 95 or by various ketoreductases overexpressed in E.coli cells. 96 Biocompatible DESs are also promising solvents for biocatalytic conversions of carbohydrates and triglycerides, e.g.…”

Promising Technological and Industrial Applications of Deep Eutectic Systems

“…The special features of NADESs, such as biodegradability and biocompatibility [11], suggest that they are alternative candidates for concepts and applications and can be used in replacement to Volatile Organic Solvents (VOCs) in organic synthesis as well as in extraction processes [2,18,19]. Stemming from the idea that NADESs are the natural environment for metabolic processes, biocatalysis in NADESs has received much attention for those transformations in which substrates or products show low water solubility [20][21][22]. Most of the applications rely on the use of NADESs as extraction media for Natural Products (NPs).…”

Biocatalyzed Sulfoxidation in Presence of Deep Eutectic Solvents

“…Oxidations catalyzed by mFMOs are typically performed in aqueous solution, but the use of water as solvent in biocatalytic sulfide oxidations can present some drawbacks such as the possibility of undesired side reactions or solubility issues. For this reason, novel and environmentally friendly non-conventional media are often considered [11,12].…”