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- Title
Green chemistry: Highly selective biocatalytic hydrolysis of nitrile compounds.
- Authors
Brady, D.; Dube, N.; Petersen, R.
- Abstract
The application of highly substrate-specific catalysts, such as biocatalysts, can reduce the number of synthetic steps required to generate organic compounds. This results in improved efficiencies and reduced waste. For the synthesis of amides and carboxylic acids, nitrile hydrolysing biocatalysts can be used. Hence we screened for nitrile biocatalysis in microorganisms isolated in South Africa. A wide range of bacterial and yeast cultures were enriched on nitriles as the sole source of nitrogen and evaluated for their substrate profiles. The substrates included aliphatic and aromatic nitriles, as well as structurally related amides. Small-scale liquid reactions were monitored using high pressure liquid chromatography and gas chromatography, combined with mass spectroscopy. The microbial biocatalysts demonstrated a wide variation of activities between genera, within genera, and even within species. The range of substrates transformed and the inter- and intra-species differences in specificity of the individual biocatalysts, suggests that it is possible to provide multiple catalytic or bioremediation agents for the fine-chemicals industry.
- Subjects
SOUTH Africa; SUSTAINABLE chemistry; HYDROLYSIS; NITRILES; ORGANIC compounds; CARBOXYLIC acids; ENZYMES; MASS spectrometry; HIGH performance liquid chromatography
- Publication
South African Journal of Science, 2006, Vol 102, Issue 7/8, p339
- ISSN
0038-2353
- Publication type
Article