Beers, wines and cheeses are enjoyed around the world today and have been for millennia. In fact the practices of brewing and cheese-making pre-date recorded history so it is difficult to accurately determine when we first started using naturally occurring enzymes and microorganisms to create valuable (and in this case, tastier!) products.
Biocatalysts are of course used in far more diverse applications than the creation of food-stuffs, including in many organic syntheses and in the generation of fine chemicals. Due to their natural design, they can offer superior selectivity for particular products and have a far lower environmental impact than many traditional catalysts. Our knowledge and understanding of biocatalysts has increased dramatically in the last few decades, which has allowed us to develop biologically modified and biomimetic catalysts for a range of applications.
To keep you up to date with the latest advances in this rapidly expanding field we have collected together these high impact articles and made them free to access until the 31st October!
Exploiting duality in nature: industrial examples of enzymatic oxidation and reduction reactions, K. Robins and A. Osorio-Lozada, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 1524-1530
A rhodium complex-linked β-barrel protein as a hybrid biocatalyst for phenylacetylene polymerization, Akira Onoda, Kazuki Fukumoto, Marcus Arlt, Marco Bocola, Ulrich Schwaneberg and Takashi Hayashi, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 9756-9758
Bioinspired organocatalytic asymmetric reactions, Luca Bernardi, Mariafrancesca Fochi, Mauro Comes Franchini and Alfredo Ricci, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 2911-2922
Oxidation-hydroxymethylation-reduction: a one-pot three-step biocatalytic synthesis of optically active α-aryl vicinal diols, Saravanakumar Shanmuganathan, Dessy Natalia, Lasse Greiner and Pablo Domínguez de María, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 94-97
A synergetic whole-cell biocatalyst for biodiesel production, Yunjun Yan, Li Xu and Min Dai, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 6170-6173
Biofilms and their engineered counterparts: A new generation of immobilised biocatalysts, Michael Winn, Joanne M. Foulkes, Stefano Perni, Mark J. H. Simmons, Tim W. Overton and Rebecca J. M. Goss, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 1544-1547
Lipase-embedded silica nanoparticles with oil-filled core–shell structure: stable and recyclable platforms for biocatalysts, Yasutaka Kuwahara, Takato Yamanishi, Takashi Kamegawa, Kohsuke Mori, Michel Che and Hiromi Yamashita, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 2882-2884
Discovery, application and protein engineering of Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenases for organic synthesis, Kathleen Balke, Maria Kadow, Hendrik Mallin, Stefan Saß and Uwe T. Bornscheuer, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 6249-6265
Efficient bio-conversion of glycerol to glycerol carbonate catalyzed by lipase extracted from Aspergillus niger, Madalina Tudorache, Loredana Protesescu, Simona Coman and Vasile I. Parvulescu, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 478-482
Lipase-catalyzed regioselective acylation of sugar in microreactors, Li-Hua Du and Xi-Ping Luo, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 2663-2665
The use of enzymes in organic synthesis and the life sciences: perspectives from the Swiss Industrial Biocatalysis Consortium (SIBC), Hans-Peter Meyer, Eric Eichhorn, Steven Hanlon, Stephan Lütz, Martin Schürmann, Roland Wohlgemuth and Raffaella Coppolecchia, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
Iron phosphate microflowers as peroxidase mimic and superoxide dismutase mimic for biocatalysis and biosensing, Wei Wang, Xiangpeng Jiang and Kezheng Chen, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 7289-7291
Enantiomeric scaffolding of α-tetralone and related scaffolds by EKR (Enzymatic Kinetic Resolution) and stereoselective ketoreduction with ketoreductases, Rajib Bhuniya and Samik Nanda, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 536-547
Enzyme-mediated oxidations for the chemist, Frank Hollmann, Isabel W. C. E. Arends, Katja Buehler, Anett Schallmey and Bruno Bühler, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 226-265
Amination of benzylic and cinnamic alcohols via a biocatalytic, aerobic, oxidation–transamination cascade, Michael Fuchs, Katharina Tauber, Johann Sattler, Horst Lechner, Jan Pfeffer, Wolfgang Kroutil and Kurt Faber, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 6262-6265
Construction of biocatalysts using the myoglobin scaffold for the synthesis of indigo from indole, Jiakun Xu, Osami Shoji, Takashi Fujishiro, Takahiro Ohki, Takafumi Ueno and Yoshihito Watanabe, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 739-744
In vitro chemoenzymatic and in vivo biocatalytic syntheses of new beauvericin analogues, Diana Matthes, Lennart Richter, Jane Müller, Alexander Denisiuk, Sven C. Feifel, Yuquan Xu, Patricia Espinosa-Artiles, Roderich D. Süssmuth and István Molnár, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 5674-5676
Formate dehydrogenase – a biocatalyst with novel applications in organic chemistry, Peter Fröhlich, Kristin Albert and Martin Bertau, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 7941-7950
Enzymatic reductions for the chemist, Frank Hollmann, Isabel W. C. E. Arends and Dirk Holtmann, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 2285-2314
Efficient and selective enzymatic synthesis of N-acetyl-lactosamine in ionic liquid: a rational explanation, Manuel Sandoval, Álvaro Cortés, Concepción Civera, Juan Treviño, Eloy Ferreras, Michel Vaultier, José Berenguer, Pedro Lozano and María J. Hernáiz, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 6306-6314
Oriented irreversible immobilization of a glycosylated Candida antarctica B lipase on heterofunctional organoborane-aldehyde support, Melissa L. E. Gutarra, Cesar Mateo, Denise M. G. Freire, Fernando A. G. Torres, Aline M. Castro, Jose M. Guisan and Jose M. Palomo, Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 260-266
A biocatalytic redox isomerisation, Serena Gargiulo, Diederik J. Opperman, Ulf Hanefeld, Isabel W. C. E. Arends and Frank Hollmann, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 6630-6632
Unexpected enzyme-catalyzed regioselective acylation of flavonoid aglycones and rapid product screening, Eleni Kyriakou, Alexandra Primikyri, Pantelis Charisiadis, Maria Katsoura, Ioannis P. Gerothanassis, Haralambos Stamatis and Andreas G. Tzakos, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, 1739-1742
Industrial biotechnology—the future of green chemistry? Stefanie Wenda, Sabine Illner, Annett Mell and Udo Kragl, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 3007-3047
Chemoenzymatic preparation of optically active 3-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)cyclohexanol-based ionic liquids: application in organocatalysis and toxicity studies, Caroline E. Paul, Vicente Gotor-Fernández, Iván Lavandera, Jose Montejo-Bernardo, Santiago García-Granda and Vicente Gotor, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 6455-6463
For even more articles take a look at the Catalysis Science & Technology Themed Issue Biocatalysis or the ChemComm web-based themed issue Enzymes and Proteins.
You can also browse through over 30 RSC Journals covering topics across the chemical sciences, follow your favourite publications on twitter and sign up to the e-alert service!
