Furfurylamine (FLA) is widely utilized
in manufacturing
polymers,
food additives, fibers, fuel additives, flavors, and pharmaceuticals.
Lignocellulose was tandemly transformed to furfurylamine by combining
chemocatalysis with biocatalysis in a three-component deep eutectic
solvent (3c-DES)–H2O in this work. Biomass-derived d-xylose (300 mM) was transformed with 3c-DES ChCl/MA/LA (15
wt %) [choline chloride (ChCl), malonic acid (MA), and lactic acid
(LA)] at 190 °C for 45 min to produce furfural (70.6% yield).
A robust triple mutant Aspergillus terreus ω-transaminase HNILQE with high biocatalytic activity and
thermostability was obtained through a consensus strategy [Q97E (glutamine
to glutamic acid), H210N (histidine to asparagine), I77L (isoleucine
to leucine)]. HNILQE could aminate d-xylose-derived furfural
to furfurylamine (97.6% yield), reaching a productivity of 0.98 g
furfurylamine/g furfural (cal. 0.44 g furfurylamine/g d-xylose).
High titer of biobased furfural (500 mM) was transformed to FLA (95.8%
yield, >99% selectivity) in ChCl/MA/LA–H2O. A
highly
efficient manufacture of furfurylamine from high loading of furfural
by this robust triple mutant HNILQE biocatalyst was successfully realized
in the established eco-friendly medium. This established chemoenzymatic
process can be utilized for efficient manufacture of biobased furans
in the green and sustainable approach.