Biocatalytic, one-pot diterminal oxidation and esterification of n-alkanes for production of α,ω-diol and α,ω-dicarboxylic acid esters

Youri M. van Nuland*, Fons A. de Vogel, Elinor L. Scott, Gerrit Eggink, Ruud A. Weusthuis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Direct and selective terminal oxidation of medium-chain n-alkanes is a major challenge in chemistry. Efforts to achieve this have so far resulted in low specificity and overoxidized products. Biocatalytic oxidation of medium-chain n-alkanes – with for example the alkane monooxygenase AlkB from P. putida GPo1- on the other hand is highly selective. However, it also results in overoxidation. Moreover, diterminal oxidation of medium-chain n-alkanes is inefficient. Hence, α,ω-bifunctional monomers are mostly produced from olefins using energy intensive, multi-step processes. By combining biocatalytic oxidation with esterification we drastically increased diterminal oxidation upto 92 mol% and reduced overoxidation to 3% for n-hexane. This methodology allowed us to convert medium-chain n-alkanes into α,ω-diacetoxyalkanes and esterified α,ω-dicarboxylic acids. We achieved this in a one-pot reaction with resting-cell suspensions of genetically engineered Escherichia coli. The combination of terminal oxidation and esterification constitutes a versatile toolbox to produce α,ω-bifunctional monomers from n-alkanes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)134-142
JournalMetabolic Engineering
Volume44
Early online date7 Oct 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2017

Keywords

  • Alkanes
  • Monooxygenases
  • Whole-cell biocatalysis
  • α,ω-dicarboxylic acids
  • α,ω-diols

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Biocatalytic, one-pot diterminal oxidation and esterification of n-alkanes for production of α,ω-diol and α,ω-dicarboxylic acid esters'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this