Green Enzymatic Synthesis

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Background

One of the most important strategies for the mitigation of environmental challenges is the development of green and sustainable alternative routes to current chemical synthesis to access materials, food, fuels, and (bio)chemicals. In this regard, two points appear as crucial; 1) the use of renewable and non-fossil feedstocks, and 2) the use of eco-friendly synthetic methodologies aligned with the principles of green chemistry. Biocatalytic approaches, namely the use of enzymes for synthesis and production, emerge as an ideal strategy in this respect since enzymes are naturally optimized to convert biomolecules (e.g. biomass) under mild conditions. Moreover, enzymes are highly selective (chemo-, regio- and stereo-selectivity), highly efficient, and biodegradable. Thus, sustainable and green catalytic routes can be established using enzymes as catalysts, thereby minimizing waste, and increasing atom economy and overall efficiency.

Recently, there has been increasing interest in using enzymes for synthesis and bioproduction purposes. Such green and eco-friendly bioproduction routes align very well with ambitious regional and global aims and policies of circular bioeconomy, zero pollution, decarbonization, and defossilization. However, there are still various drawbacks that prevent the widespread use of enzymes for biomanufacturing. High production costs compared to chemical catalysts, low stability under process conditions (e.g. high temp., presence of organic solvents), inefficient reactivity towards non-natural substrates, and inhibition at the high substrate and product concentrations are among the main challenges that render many enzymatic processes unfeasible for industrial biotechnology. Thus, it is important to engineer and optimize the enzyme itself as well as the bioprocess designed around it for obtaining biocatalyst systems that are well-suited for efficient bioproduction. Especially, studies in the discovery of new enzymes, protein and solvent engineering, bioprocess optimization, enzyme immobilization, and cascade reactions, combined with recent advances in computational methods including bioinformatics, molecular simulations, and more recently machine learning, hold great promise towards the establishment of robust sustainable enzymatic processes with great potential to replace chemical methods and open up greener synthetic avenues.

but are not limited to:
- Discovery of new enzymes with the potential for synthesis
- Protein and reaction engineering
- (Chemo)enzymatic cascade reactions
- Enzymatic bioprocess design
- Use of green solvents in biocatalysis
- Enzyme immobilization
- Cofactor regeneration systems
- Enzyme mechanism and kinetics for biocatalysis
- Computational enzyme and reaction optimization
- Machine learning in biocatalysis

We highly encourage studies that demonstrate the enzymatic conversion of renewable sources into value-added molecules, natural products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, fuels, food, and (bio)chemicals. Both original research articles, as well as review articles summarizing recent literature findings related to the topic, are welcome. Perspective and Opinion articles will also be considered.

Keywords: Enzymatic Synthesis, Biocatalysis, Green Chemistry, Sustainable Synthesis, Protein Engineering, Enzyme Discovery, Cascade Reactions, Bioprocess Design

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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