1 research outputs found
Microbial Metabolism of Nitriles and Its Biotechnological Potential
925-947Biocatalysts
display a remarkable capability to function under normal temperature and
pressure with high specificity and are potentially very economical.
Bioconversion of nitrile compounds to a number of economically important
compounds is described. A wide variety of microorganisms having the ability to
metabolize different nitriles and discovered during the last two decades are
described. It is pointed out that the microbial degradation of nitriles
proceeds through two distinct enzymatic pathways: nitrilase catalyzes the
direct
hydrolysis
of nitriles to the corresponding carboxylic acids and ammonia, while nitrile
hydratase catalyzes the hydration of nitriles to the corresponding amides, followed by their
conversion to the corresponding carboxylic acids plus ammonia by amidase. It is
mentioned that the versatile biocatalytic nature and applications of these
enzymes are being increasingly recognised for the selective hydrolysis of
various types of nitriles for the production of several fine chemicals,
pharmaceuticals and optically active nitriles, amides and carboxylic acids,
which are not generally feasible by chemical routes. A commercial process
involving the multi-kiloton scale synthesis of acrylamide using Rhodococcus
rhodochrous J 1 nitrile hydratase is described, which is the best example
of a fully developed industrial application of this biotechnology. Though,
recent developments broadened the potential application of these
versatile
biocatalysts in chemical synthesis and bioremediation, further studies are
required to fully harness their biotechnological potential