Improving Product Specificity of Whole-Cell Alkane Oxidation in Nonconventional Media: A Multivariate Analysis Approach.

Two-liquid-phase reaction media have long been used in bioconversions to supply or remove hydrophobic organic reaction substrates and products to reduce inhibitory and toxic effects on biocatalysts. In case of the terminal oxyfunctionalization of linear alkanes by the AlkBGT monooxygenase the excess alkane substrate is often used as a second phase to extract the alcohol, aldehyde, and acid products. However, the selection of other carrier phases or surfactants is complex due to a large number of parameters that are involved, such as biocompatibility, substrate bioavailability, and product extraction selectivity.

Customized microscale approach for optimizing two-phase bio-oxidations of alkanes with high reproducibility.

Background: Numerous challenges remain to achieve industrially competitive space-time yields for bio-oxidations. The ability to rapidly screen bioconversion reactions for characterization and optimization is of major importance in bioprocess development and biocatalyst selection; studies at conventional lab scale are time consuming and labor intensive with low experimental throughput. The direct ω-oxyfunctionalization of aliphatic alkanes in a regio- and chemoselective manner is efficiently catalyzed by monooxygenases such as the AlkBGT enzyme complex from Pseudomonas putida under mild conditions.