Abstract
Biocatalytic pathways for the synthesis of (-)-menthol, the most sold flavor worldwide, are highly sought-after. To access the key intermediate (R)-citronellal used in current major industrial production routes, we established a one-pot bienzymatic cascade from inexpensive geraniol, overcoming the problematic biocatalytic reduction of the mixture of (E/Z)-isomers in citral by harnessing a copper radical oxidase (CgrAlcOx) and an old yellow enzyme (OYE). The cascade using OYE2 delivered 95.1% conversion to (R)-citronellal with 95.9% ee, a 62 mg scale-up affording high yield and similar optical purity. An alternative OYE, GluER, gave (S)-citronellal from geraniol with 95.3% conversion and 99.2% ee.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1111-1116 |
Journal | ACS Catalysis |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Keywords
- biocascade
- biocatalysis
- citral
- citronellal
- enzymatic oxidation
- enzymatic reduction
- geranial