Ionic Liquid-Inspired Cations Covalently Bound to Formate Dehydrogenase Improve its Stability and Activity in Ionic Liquids

Selective Oxidation of Glycerol via Acceptorless Dehydrogenation Driven by Ir(I)-NHC Catalysts

Iridium(I) compounds featuring bridge-functionalized bis-NHC ligands (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene), [Ir(cod)(bis-NHC)] and [Ir(CO)₂(bis-NHC)], have been prepared from the appropriate carboxylate- or hydroxy-functionalized bis-imidazolium salts. The related complexes [Ir(cod)(NHC)₂]⁺ and [IrCl(cod)(NHC)(cod)] have been synthesized from a 3-hydroxypropyl functionalized imidazolium salt. These complexes have been shown to be robust catalysts in the oxidative dehydrogenation of glycerol to lactate (LA) with dihydrogen release. High activity and selectivity to LA were achieved in an open system under low catalyst loadings using KOH as a base. The hydroxy-functionalized bis-NHC catalysts are much more active than both the carboxylate-functionalized ones and the unbridged bis-NHC iridium(I) catalyst with hydroxyalkyl-functionalized NHC ligands. In general, carbonyl complexes are more active than the related 1,5-cyclooctadiene ones. The catalyst [Ir(CO)₂{(MeImCH₂)₂CHOH}]Br exhibits the highest productivity affording TONs to LA up to 15,000 at very low catalyst loadings.

Chemical modification for improving catalytic performance of lipase B from Candida antarctica with hydrophobic proline ionic liquid

In this study, a series of proline ionic liquids with different lengths of hydrophobic alkyl on the side chain were used to modify the Candida Antarctic lipase B (CALB). The catalytic activity, thermal stability and tolerance to methanol and DMSO of the modified enzyme were all improved simultaneously. The optimum temperature changed from 55 to 60 ℃. The hydrophobicity and anion type of the modifier have important influence on the catalytic performance of CALB. CALB modified by [ProC₁₂][H₂PO₄] has a better effect. Under the optimal conditions, its hydrolysis activity was 3.0 times than that of the native enzyme, the catalytic efficiency Kcat/Km improved 2.8 times in aqueous phase, and the tolerance to organic solvent with strong polarity (50% methanol 2 h) was increased by 6.8 times. Fluorescence spectra and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy showed that the introduction of ionic liquids changed the microenvironment near the fluorophores of the enzyme protein, the α-helix decreased and β-sheet increased in the secondary structure of the modified enzymes. The root mean square deviation (RMSD), residue root mean square fluctuation (RMSF), radius of gyration (Rg), and solution accessible surface area (SASA) of [ProC₂][Br]-CALB, [ProC₁₂][Br]-CALB and native CALB were obtained for comparison by molecular dynamics simulation. The results of dynamics simulation were in good agreement with enzymology experiment. The introduction of ionic liquids can keep CALB in a better active conformation, and proline ionic liquids with long hydrophobic chains can significantly improve the surface hydrophobicity and overall rigidity of CALB. This research offers a new idea for rapid screening of efficient modifiers and provision of enzymes with high stability and activity for industrial application.

Protein Modifications: From Chemoselective Probes to Novel Biocatalysts

Chemical reactions can be performed to covalently modify specific residues in proteins. When applied to native enzymes, these chemical modifications can greatly expand the available set of building blocks for the development of biocatalysts. Nucleophilic canonical amino acid sidechains are the most readily accessible targets for such endeavors. A rich history of attempts to design enhanced or novel enzymes, from various protein scaffolds, has paved the way for a rapidly developing field with growing scientific, industrial, and biomedical applications. A major challenge is to devise reactions that are compatible with native proteins and can selectively modify specific residues. Cysteine, lysine, N-terminus, and carboxylate residues comprise the most widespread naturally occurring targets for enzyme modifications. In this review, chemical methods for selective modification of enzymes will be discussed, alongside with examples of reported applications. We aim to highlight the potential of such strategies to enhance enzyme function and create novel semisynthetic biocatalysts, as well as provide a perspective in a fast-evolving topic.

Recent Advances in Biocatalysis with Chemical Modification and Expanded Amino Acid Alphabet

The two main strategies for enzyme engineering, directed evolution and rational design, have found widespread applications in improving the intrinsic activities of proteins. Although numerous advances have been achieved using these ground-breaking methods, the limited chemical diversity of the biopolymers, restricted to the 20 canonical amino acids, hampers creation of novel enzymes that Nature has never made thus far. To address this, much research has been devoted to expanding the protein sequence space via chemical modifications and/or incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs). This review provides a balanced discussion and critical evaluation of the applications, recent advances, and technical breakthroughs in biocatalysis for three approaches: (i) chemical modification of cAAs, (ii) incorporation of ncAAs, and (iii) chemical modification of incorporated ncAAs. Furthermore, the applications of these approaches and the result on the functional properties and mechanistic study of the enzymes are extensively reviewed. We also discuss the design of artificial enzymes and directed evolution strategies for enzymes with ncAAs incorporated. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and future perspectives for biocatalysis using the expanded amino acid alphabet.

Visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to formate with a system of water-soluble zinc porphyrin and formate dehydrogenase in ionic liquid/aqueous media

Visible-light-driven CO₂ reduction to formate with a system consisting of water-soluble zinc tetraphenylporphyrin tetrasulfonate (ZnTPPS), formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii (CbFDH) and methylviologen (MV) in the presence of triethanolamine (TEOA) as an electron donor in an ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate ([EMlm][Me₂PO₄])/aqueous media was investigated. The catalytic activity of CbFDH for formate oxidation to CO₂ and CO₂ reduction to formate did not decrease significantly even in [EMlm][Me₂PO₄]/aqueous media, compared with that in aqueous media. The visible-light-driven MV reduction by the photosensitization of ZnTPPS in [EMlm][Me₂PO₄]/aqueous media proceeds more efficiently than in the aqueous media system. In the visible-light-driven CO₂ reduction to formate system of ZnTPPS, MV and CbFDH with [EMlm][Me₂PO₄]/aqueous media, moreover, the formate production concentration after 180 min decreased by only 20% as compared with the system in aqueous media.

Enzymatic Transesterification of Kraft Lignin with Long Acyl Chains in Ionic Liquids

Valorization of lignin is essential for the economic viability of the biorefinery concept. For example, the enhancement of lignin hydrophobicity by chemical esterification is known to improve its miscibility in apolar polyolefin matrices, thereby helping the production of bio-based composites. To this end and due to its many reactive hydroxyl groups, lignin is a challenging macromolecular substrate for biocatalyzed esterification in non-conventional media. The present work describes for the first time the lipase-catalyzed transesterification of Kraft lignin in ionic liquids (ILs). Three lipases, three 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium based ILs and ethyl oleate as long chain acyl donor were selected. Best results were obtained with a hydrophilic/hydrophobic binary IL system (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluoro- phosphate, 1/1 v/v) and the immobilized lipase B from Candida antarctica (CALB) that afforded a promising transesterification yield (ca. 30%). Similar performances were achieved by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate as a coating agent for CALB rather than as a co-solvent in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethane-sulfonate thus limiting the use of hydrophobic IL. Structural characterization of lignin oleate was performed by spectroscopic studies (FTIR and ¹H-NMR). The synthesized lignin oleate exhibited interesting thermal and textural properties, different from those of the original Kraft lignin.

Directed evolution of a formate dehydrogenase for increased tolerance to ionic liquids reveals a new site for increasing the stability

The formate dehydrogenase (FDH) from Candida boidinii is a well-known enzyme in biocatalysis for NADH regeneration. Nevertheless, it has low activity in a water-miscible ionic liquid (1,3-dimethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate, [MMIm][Me2 PO4 ]). In this work, this enzyme was subjected to directed evolution by using error-prone PCR, and a mutant (N187S/T321S) displaying higher activity was obtained following selection based on the formazan-based colorimetric assay. The mutation N187S is responsible for improved activity both in aqueous solution and in [MMIm][Me2 PO4 ], through an enhancement of the kcat value by a factor of 5.8. Fluorescence experiments performed in the presence of a quenching agent revealed that the mutant does not unfold in the presence of 50 % (v/v) [MMIm][Me2 PO4 ] whereas the wild-type enzyme does. Molecular modelling revealed that the mutation is located at the monomer-monomer interface and causes an increase in the pKa of residue E163 from 4.8 to 5.5. Calculation of the pKa of this residue in other microbial FDHs showed that thermostable FDHs have a highly basic glutamate at this position (pKa up to 6.2). We have identified a new site for improving FDH thermostability and tolerance to ionic liquids, and it is linked to the local charge of the enzymes in this class.