Eleven flavoproteins from the old yellow enzyme family were found to catalyze the disproportionation ("dismutation") of conjugated enones. Incomplete conversions, which were attributed to enzyme inhibition by the co-product phenol could be circumvented via in situ co-product removal by scavenging the phenol using the polymeric adsorbent MP-carbonate. The optimized system allowed to reduce an alkene activated by ester groups in a "coupled-substrate" approach via nicotinamide-free hydrogen transfer with >90% conversion and complete stereoselectivity.
Keywords: disproportionation; ene-reductase; in situ co-product removal; old yellow enzyme.
© 2013 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.