Oxidation of Ketones: A (Chemo-) Enzymatic Approach Using Oxygenases and Hydrolases

Sammanfattning: Popular Abstract in English The thesis that you are reading at this moment was printed using climate compensated paper, a sign that consciously or not you are contributing somehow to control the current environmental issues in our planet. It would not be nice if every single article used in your daily life contains information about how environmentally friendly that product is? We have to think “big” and start to work for a real solution. It is of common knowledge that the chemical industry has changed the world by providing us with innumerable products but at the same time has been one of the major contributors to pollution on our planet. Investments on research to allow us to make a green process along with policies regulating the production of chemicals can be a real solution to several of our environmental problems. Oxidations are important reactions in chemistry. Oxidations in industry are done generally using chlorinated solvents, large amounts of chemicals some of which pose risk of explosion during transportation and storage. A greener alternative is the use of enzymes which are able to oxidise compounds with molecular oxygen (as monooxygenases) or enzymes able to produce oxidants during the process (lipases and perhydrolases). Enzymes usually work in mild conditions, making the process not just greener but also safer as avoid the risk of explosion. In addition, green reactions should also consider changing traditional solvents to greener alternatives, especially considering that solvents per se constitute around 80% of the generated organic waste. This thesis concerns work with the above-mentioned enzymes with a target to produce lactones, the products used in flavors, fragrances, pharmaceuticals and polymers. To contribute to the efforts of green chemistry, the work covers the development of a new colorimetric method for the search of oxidizing enzymes from bacteria, the description of one such enzyme from a bacteria isolated from a soda lake, and development of an enzymatic process to produce caprolactone. Who knows, maybe in the future if you decide to read this thesis again, in the corner of your glasses in very tiny letters you can read something like: this product was made using materials according to green chemistry regulation