Bioreaction engineering for the kinetic resolution of racemic epoxides by epoxide hydrolase

In this chapter the main findings of the work described in this thesis, aimed at the development of a process for the production of enantiomerically pure epoxides by enzymatic kinetic resolution, are summarised. The work was carried out using an epoxide hydrolase originally isolated from the organism Agrobacterium readiobacter AD1 (van den Wijngaard et al., 1989). The scale-up of this biocatalytic reaction is complicated by the poor solubility of epoxides in water, enzyme inhibition by the produced diol, and enzyme instability under reaction conditions (Chapter 1). ... Zie: Chapter 6

Interfacial inactivation of epoxide hydrolase in a two-liquid-phase system

Enantioselective epoxide hydrolases are useful biocatalysts for the preparation of enantiopure epoxides and diols. The kinetic resolution of racemic epoxides can be carried out in an organic/aqueous biphasic system to allow use of high epoxide concentrations. Enzyme inactivation in such a system, however, may occur by contact with the interface. In this study, we investigated the factors which influence the interfacial inactivation of Agrobacterium radiobacter epoxide hydrolase in an octane/water biphasic system. Rates of interfacial inactivation were measured both in a stirred-cell, which has a planar interface, and in an emulsion reactor. Interfacial inactivation rates measured in the stirred-cell at a fixed interfacial area increased with mixing intensity. Interfacial inactivation rates per unit area were lower in the emulsion reactor than in the stirred-cell and increased with bulk aqueous enzyme concentration. Circular dichroism measurements showed that during biphasic incubation all unadsorbed soluble enzyme existed in the native conformation. Activity assays showed that the dissolved enzyme was also fully active, indicating that inactivated enzyme precipitated from solution. Using an inactive epoxide hydrolase mutant structurally similar to the wild-type enzyme in order to avoid the conversion of the epoxide, it was found that high concentrations of epoxide in the organic phase increased the rate of interfacial inactivation.

Effect of Mass Transfer Limitations on the Enzymatic Kinetic Resolution of Epoxides in a Two-Liquid-Phase System

Optically active epoxides can be obtained by kinetic resolution of racemic mixtures using enantioselective epoxide hydrolases. To increase the productivity of the conversion of sparingly aqueous soluble epoxides, we investigated the use of a two-phase aqueous/organic system. A kinetic model which takes into account interphase mass transfer, enzymatic reaction, and enzyme inactivation was developed to describe epoxide conversion in the system by the epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter. A Lewis cell was used to determine model parameters and results from resolutions carried out in the Lewis cell were compared to model predictions to validate the model. It was found that n-octane is a biocompatible immiscible solvent suitable for use as the organic phase. Good agreement between the model predictions and experimental data was found when the enzyme inactivation rate was fitted. Simulations showed that mass transfer limitations have to be avoided in order to maximize the yield of enantiomerically pure epoxide. Resolution of a 39 g/L solution of racemic styrene oxide in octane was successfully carried out in an emulsion batch reactor to obtain (S)-styrene oxide in high enantiomeric excess (>95% e.e.) with a yield of 30%.

Inactivation of epoxide hydrolase by catalysis-induced formation of isoaspartate

Epoxide hydrolases catalyze hydrolytic epoxide ring-opening, most often via formation of a covalent hydroxyalkyl-enzyme intermediate. A mutant of Agrobacterium radiobacter epoxide hydrolase, in which the phenylalanine residue that flanks the invariant catalytic aspartate nucleophile is replaced by a threonine, exhibited inactivation during conversion when the (R)-enantiomer of para-nitrostyrene epoxide was used as substrate. HPLC analysis of tryptic fragments of the epoxide hydrolase, followed by MALDI-TOF and TOF/TOF analysis, indicated that inactivation was due to conversion of the nucleophilic aspartate into isoaspartate, which represents a novel mechanism of catalysis-induced autoinactivation. Inactivation occurred at a lower rate with the (S)-enantiomer of para-nitrostyrene epoxide, indicating that it is related to the structure of the covalent hydroxyalkyl-enzyme intermediate.