Enzymatic Epoxidation of Long-Chain Terminal Alkenes by Fungal Peroxygenases

12 páginas.- 2 figuras.- 2 tablas.- 55 referencias.-Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https:www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/antiox11030522/s1Terminal alkenes are among the most attractive starting materials for the synthesis of epoxides, which are essential and versatile intermediate building blocks for the pharmaceutical, fla-voring, and polymer industries. Previous research on alkene epoxidation has focused on the use of several oxidizing agents and/or different enzymes, including cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, as well as microbial whole-cell catalysts that have several drawbacks. Alternatively, we explored the ability of unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) to selectively epoxidize terminal alkenes. UPOs are attractive biocatalysts because they are robust extracellular enzymes and only require H2O2 as cosub-strate. Here, we show how several UPOs, such as those from Cyclocybe (Agrocybe) aegerita (AaeUPO), Marasmius rotula (MroUPO), Coprinopsis cinerea (rCciUPO), Humicola insolens (rHinUPO), and Daldinia caldariorum (rDcaUPO), are able to catalyze the epoxidation of long-chain terminal alkenes (from C12:1 to C20:1) after an initial optimization of several reaction parameters (cosolvent, cosub-strate, and pH). In addition to terminal epoxides, alkenols and other hydroxylated derivatives of the alkenes were formed. Although all UPOs were able to convert and epoxidize the alkenes, nota-ble differences were observed between them, with rCciUPO being responsible for the highest sub-strate turnover and MroUPO being the most selective with respect to terminal epoxidation. The potential of peroxygenases for epoxidizing long-chain terminal alkenes represents an interesting and green alternative to the existing synthesis technologies. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, SwitzerlandThis research was funded by BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, grant number 792063 (SusBind project; https://susbind.eu, accessed on 1 February 2022; to A.G., A.T.M. and M.H.); the PID2020-118968RB-100 project of the Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 to A.G.; the CSIC projects PIE-202040E185 (to A.G.) and PIE-202120E019 (to A.T.M.); the CSIC SusPlast platform (to A.T.M.); and the CSIC program for the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the European Union, established by the Regulation (EU) 2020/2094Peer reviewe