Process Biochemistry, Vol.76, 34-39, 2019
Coupled fermentation-bioconversion process for production of chiral alpha-chlorohydrin with recombinant ketoreductase
Enzymatic production of chemicals typically includes fermentation of engineered bacteria, preparation of enzymes, and bioconversion processes. Here coupled fermentation-bioconversion process for production of chiral atazanavir intermediate alpha-chlorohydrin was established. In the fermentation step, the ketoreductase was released from recombinant E. coil cells into medium after high-temperature induction, and the enzyme activity reached 5960 U/mL in the fermentation supernatant. In the bioconversion step, the fermentation supernatant was used directly for conversion of 200 g/L alpha-chloroketone in heterogeneous reaction mixture, and the residual amount of chloroketone reached less than 0.1% after 24 h of reaction. After filtration and drying, powder alpha-chlorohydrin was obtained with total yield of 95.7%. Finally, the filtrate of the reaction mixture was used for 2nd batch conversion, and powder alpha-chlorohydrin was obtained with yield of 95.6%. The above coupled process simplified enzyme preparation procedure, allowed the bioproduction of alpha-chlorohydrin to be carried out smoothly with reduced waste water discharge, and was advantageous for industrial scale-up.
Keywords:alpha-chlorohydrin;Ketoreductase;Coupled fermentation-bioconversion process;Heterogeneous reaction;Reuse