Formation of Supramolecular Nanostructures through in Situ Self-Assembly and Post-Assembly Modification of a Biocatalytically Constructed Dipeptide Hydrazide**

Aqueous self-assembly of short peptides has attracted growing attention for the construction of supramolecular materials for various bioapplications. Herein, we describe how the thermolysin-assisted biocatalytic construction of a dipeptide hydrazide from an N-protected amino acid and an amino acid hydrazide leads to the formation of thermally stable supramolecular hydrogels. In addition, we demonstrate the post-assembly modification of the supramolecular architectures constructed in situ tethering hydrazide groups as a chemical handle by means of fluorescence imaging.     

Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Thiocarboxylic Acids by Nitrilase Biocatalysed Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of α-Thionitriles

The enantioselective synthesis of α-thiocarboxylic acids by biocatalytic dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of nitrile precursors exploiting nitrilase enzymes is described. A panel of 35 nitrilase biocatalysts were screened and enzymes Nit27 and Nit34 were found to catalyse the DKR of racemic α-thionitriles under mild conditions, affording the corresponding carboxylic acids with high conversions and good-to-excellent ee. The ammonia produced in situ during the biocatalytic transformation favours the racemization of the nitrile enantiomers and, in turn, the DKR without the need of any external additive base.     

弹性蛋白酶生物催化酯水解的综合实验设计*

酯的水解是有机化学实验教学中的一个重要化学反应,传统的酯水解实验设计是利用酸性或碱性环境在加热的条件下进行水解,而本实验设计将酯水解与生物催化相结合,利用弹性蛋白酶的水解功能,在常温及中性环境下实现对4-三氟甲基-7-丙酰氧基香豆素的水解。该实验设计创新性地将酯水解和酶催化相结合,有利于拓展学生的知识面,培养化学生物学复合型人才。同时,生物催化反应具有反应温和、环境友好等特点,符合当代绿色化学的需求。     

The Oxidation of Thiols by Flavoprotein Oxidases: a Biocatalytic Route to Reactive Thiocarbonyls

Flavoprotein oxidases are a diverse class of biocatalysts, most of which catalyze the oxidation of C? O, C? N, or C? C bonds. Flavoprotein oxidases that are known to catalyze the oxidation of C? S bonds are rare, being limited to enzymes that catalyze the oxidative cleavage of thioethers. Herein, we report that various flavoprotein oxidases, previously thought to solely act on alcohols, also catalyze the oxidation of thiols to thiocarbonyls. These results highlight the versatility of enzymatic catalysis and provide a potential biocatalytic route to reactive thiocarbonyl compounds, which have a variety of applications in synthetic organic chemistry.     

Orthogonal Surface Tags for Whole‐Cell Biocatalysis

We herein describe the engineering of E. coli strains that display orthogonal tags for immobilization on their surface and overexpress a functional heterologous “protein content” in their cytosol at the same time. Using the outer membrane protein Lpp‐ompA, cell‐surface display of the streptavidin‐binding peptide, the SpyTag/SpyCatcher system, or a HaloTag variant allowed us to generate bacterial strains that can selectively bind to solid substrates, as demonstrated with magnetic microbeads. The simultaneous cytosolic expression of functional content was demonstrated for fluorescent proteins or stereoselective ketoreductase enzymes. The latter strains gave high selectivities for specific immobilization onto complementary surfaces and also in the whole‐cell stereospecific transformation of a prochiral C_S‐symmetric nitrodiketone.     

Regioselective para‐Carboxylation of Catechols with a Prenylated Flavin Dependent Decarboxylase

The utilization of CO₂ as a carbon source for organic synthesis meets the urgent demand for more sustainability in the production of chemicals. Herein, we report on the enzyme‐catalyzed para ‐carboxylation of catechols, employing 3,4‐dihydroxybenzoic acid decarboxylases (AroY) that belong to the UbiD enzyme family. Crystal structures and accompanying solution data confirmed that AroY utilizes the recently discovered prenylated FMN (prFMN) cofactor, and requires oxidative maturation to form the catalytically competent prFMN^iminium species. This study reports on the in vitro reconstitution and activation of a prFMN‐dependent enzyme that is capable of directly carboxylating aromatic catechol substrates under ambient conditions. A reaction mechanism for the reversible decarboxylation involving an intermediate with a single covalent bond between a quinoid adduct and cofactor is proposed, which is distinct from the mechanism of prFMN‐associated 1,3‐dipolar cycloadditions in related enzymes.     

A Separation‐Integrated Cascade Reaction to Overcome Thermodynamic Limitations in Rare‐Sugar Synthesis

Enzyme cascades combining epimerization and isomerization steps offer an attractive route for the generic production of rare sugars starting from accessible bulk sugars but suffer from the unfavorable position of the thermodynamic equilibrium, thus reducing the yield and requiring complex work‐up procedures to separate pure product from the reaction mixture. Presented herein is the integration of a multienzyme cascade reaction with continuous chromatography, realized as simulated moving bed chromatography, to overcome the intrinsic yield limitation. Efficient production of D ‐psicose from sucrose in a three‐step cascade reaction using invertase, D ‐xylose isomerase, and D ‐tagatose epimerase, via the intermediates D ‐glucose and D ‐fructose, is described. This set‐up allowed the production of pure psicose (99.9 %) with very high yields (89 %) and high enzyme efficiency (300 g of D ‐psicose per g of enzyme).     

A Synthetic Adenylation‐Domain‐Based tRNA‐Aminoacylation Catalyst

The incorporation of non‐proteinogenic amino acids represents a major challenge for the creation of functionalized proteins. The ribosomal pathway is limited to the 20–22 proteinogenic amino acids while nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are able to select from hundreds of different monomers. Introduced herein is a fusion‐protein‐based design for synthetic tRNA‐aminoacylation catalysts based on combining NRPS adenylation domains and a small eukaryotic tRNA‐binding domain (Arc1p‐C). Using rational design, guided by structural insights and molecular modeling, the adenylation domain PheA was fused with Arc1p‐C using flexible linkers and achieved tRNA‐aminoacylation with both proteinogenic and non‐proteinogenic amino acids. The resulting aminoacyl‐tRNAs were functionally validated and the catalysts showed broad substrate specificity towards the acceptor tRNA. Our strategy shows how functional tRNA‐aminoacylation catalysts can be created for bridging the ribosomal and nonribosomal worlds. This opens up new avenues for the aminoacylation of tRNAs with functional non‐proteinogenic amino acids.     

Individual Surface‐Engineered Microorganisms as Robust Pickering Interfacial Biocatalysts for Resistance‐Minimized Phase‐Transfer Bioconversion

A powerful strategy for long‐term and diffusional‐resistance‐minimized whole‐cell biocatalysis in biphasic systems is reported where individually encapsulated bacteria are employed as robust and recyclable Pickering interfacial biocatalysts. By individually immobilizing bacterial cells and optimizing the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance of the encapsulating magnetic mineral shells, the encased bacteria became interfacially active and locate at the Pickering emulsion interfaces, leading to dramatically enhanced bioconversion performances by minimizing internal and external diffusional resistances. Moreover, in situ product separation and biocatalyst recovery was readily achieved using a remote magnetic field. Importantly, the mineral shell effectively protected the entire cell from long‐term organic‐solvent stress, as shown by the reusability of the biocatalysts for up to 30 cycles, while retaining high stereoselective catalytic activities, cell viabilities, and proliferative abilities.