Flavoprotein oxidases are a diverse class of biocatalysts, most of which catalyze the oxidation of CÀO, CÀN, or CÀC bonds. Flavoprotein oxidases that are known to catalyze the oxidation of CÀS bonds are rare, being limited to enzymes that catalyze the oxidative cleavage of thioethers. Herein, we report that various flavoprotein oxidases, previously thought to solely act on alcohols, also catalyze the oxidation of thiols to thiocarbonyls. These results highlight the versatility of enzymatic catalysis and provide a potential biocatalytic route to reactive thiocarbonyl compounds, which have a variety of applications in synthetic organic chemistry.Flavoprotein oxidases constitute a diverse class of oxidoreductases, which contain a flavin cofactor in the form of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) or flavin mononucleotide (FMN). They catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of substrates, with molecular oxygen functioning as the final oxidant. Their catalytic cycle consists of two half reactions. During the reductive half reaction two electrons are transferred from the substrate to the flavin cofactor, a process which is generally believed to occur through the direct transfer of a hydride anion to the N5 atom of the flavin. [1,2] In the oxidative half reaction the flavin cofactor is reoxidized by molecular oxygen, which is reduced to hydrogen peroxide. Unlike many other oxidative enzymes, for example dehydrogenases, oxidases do not require stoichiometric amounts of expensive organic cofactors, making them interesting candidates for biocatalytic exploitation. Most of the characterized flavoprotein oxidases catalyze the oxidation of CÀO, CÀN, or CÀC bonds to the corresponding double bonds.[3] A small number of flavoprotein oxidases are known to oxidize sulfurcontaining compounds. Prenylcysteine lyase (Enzyme Commission (EC) number 1.8.3.5) and farnesylcysteine lyase (EC 1.8.3.6) catalyze the oxidative cleavage of thioethers into aldehydes and thiols, whereas sulfhydryl oxidases (EC 1.8.3.2 and 1.8.3.3) catalyze the formation of disulfide bonds from thiols. So far, no flavoprotein oxidases have been identified that catalyze the oxidation of thiols to thiocarbonyl compounds. Herein, we present the finding that a number of flavin-dependent oxidases, that hitherto had been thought to act solely on alcohols, also oxidize thiols that are structurally similar to their alcohol substrates, yielding the corresponding thiocarbonyls.Alditol oxidase from Streptomyces coelicolor (AldO; EC 1.1.3.41) is a flavin-dependent oxidase that catalyzes the regioselective oxidation of the primary hydroxy groups of a broad range of polyols, with the best substrates being alditols, such as xylitol, d-sorbitol, and l-threitol.[4, 5] AldO displays stereoselectivity: for example, d-sorbitol is converted into its oxidized form significantly more efficiently than its C2 epimer d-mannitol. AldO belongs to the vanillyl alcohol oxidase (VAO) family of structurally homologous flavoproteins. These flavoproteins contain a conserved FAD-binding domain ...