Nonswelling macroporous synbeads for improved efficiency of solid-phase biotransformations.

An application of novel, highly porous nonswelling resins (Synbeads) for enzymatic catalysis on solid supports is reported. These new resins combine easy handling of the beads, chemical stability, improved accessibility of proteins and higher productivity relative to swelling polymers. The present study demonstrates that the resin porosity greatly affects the efficiency in solid-phase biotransformations and that Synbead resins are valuable alternatives to swelling polymers for solid-phase chemistry and biocatalysis.

Improved biotransformations on charged PEGA supports.

PEGA supports functionalised with permanent charges show superior swelling properties in aqueous media when compared to neutral PEGA; a novel positively charged PEGA resin significantly improves penicillin G amidase (PGA) catalysed biotransformation on solid support, by favouring accessibility of the negatively charged enzyme.

Solvent selection for solid-to-solid synthesis.

Thermolysin catalyzed solid-to-solid synthesis of the model peptide Z-L-Phe-L-Leu-NH(2) is practically feasible in water and a range of organic solvents with different physicochemical properties. Excellent overall conversions were obtained in acetonitrile, ethyl acetate, n-hexane, methanol, 2-propanol, tert-amyl alcohol, tetrahydrofuran, toluene and water, while no product precipitation was observed in dichloromethane resulting in a much lower yield. In precipitation driven synthesis the product accumulates both in solution and in the solid phase.