Enzyme Reaction Engineering as a Tool to Investigate the Potential Application of Enzyme Reaction Systems

Abstract

It is widely recognized and accepted that although biocatalysis is an exquisite tool to synthesize natural and unnatural compounds under mild process conditions, much can be done to better understand these processes as well as detect resulting bottlenecks and help to resolve them. This is the precise purpose of enzyme reaction engineering, a scientific discipline that focuses on investigating enzyme reactions with the goal of facilitating their implementation on an industrial scale. Even though reaction schemes of enzyme reactions often seem simple, in practice, the interdependence of differentvariables is unknown, very complex and may prevent further applications. Therefore, in this work, important aspects of the implementation of enzyme reactions are discussed using simple and complex examples, along with principles of mathematical modelling that provide explanations for why some reactions do not proceed as planned.

HHDH-Catalyzed Synthesis of Enantioenriched Fluorinated β-Hydroxy Nitrile─Process Advances through a Reaction Engineering Approach

“…The application of reaction engineering principles plays a decisive role in choosing reaction conditions for enhanced efficiency and selectivity. Mathematical models offer not only valuable insights into the kinetics of catalyzed reactions, leading to a better overall understanding of the occurring processes but also support the design and optimization of reaction systems, with the final goal of facilitating the processes scale-up for industrial applications. − …”

Halohydrin dehalogenase-catalysed synthesis of enantiopure fluorinated building blocks: bottlenecks found and explained by applying a reaction engineering approach

“…Kinetic characterization of the biocatalytic system can reveal and address various challenges, such as the existence and extent of side reactions, deactivation and inhibition of enzymes. 29,30 Furthermore, by applying a mathematical model, different reaction conditions and scenarios can be simulated without the need for extensive experimentation. 31 Since mathematical modelling methodology has never been experimentally applied to HHDH-catalysed systems yet, kinetic data could not only provide valuable insight into enzyme characteristics and process bottlenecks, but could also be utilised in finding potential solutions.…”