Light-Driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation of Fatty Acids

Mieke M E Huijbers; Wuyuan Zhang; Fabio Tonin; Frank Hollmann

doi:10.1002/anie.201807119

Light-Driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation of Fatty Acids

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Oct 8;57(41):13648-13651. doi: 10.1002/anie.201807119. Epub 2018 Sep 12.

Authors

Mieke M E Huijbers¹, Wuyuan Zhang¹, Fabio Tonin¹, Frank Hollmann¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629, HZ, Delft, The Netherlands.

Abstract

The photoenzymatic decarboxylation of fatty acids to alkanes is proposed as an alternative approach for the synthesis of biodiesel. By using a recently discovered photodecarboxylase from Chlorella variabilis NC64A (CvFAP) we demonstrate the irreversible preparation of alkanes from fatty acids and triglycerides. Several fatty acids and their triglycerides are converted by CvFAP in near-quantitative yield and exclusive selectivity upon illumination with blue light. Very promising turnover numbers of up to 8000 were achieved in this proof-of-concept study.

Keywords: biocatalysis; biofuels; decarboxylation; fatty acids; photocatalysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't