Simultaneous biocatalyst production and Baeyer-Villiger oxidation for bioconversion of cyclohexanone by recombinant Escherichia coli expressing cyclohexanone monooxygenase

Abstract

Cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) catalyzing Baeyer-Villiger oxidation converts cyclic ketones into optically pure lactones, which have been used as building blocks in organic synthesis. A recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)/pMM4 expressing CHMO originated from Acinetobacter sp. NCIB 9871 was used to produce ε-caprolactone through a simultaneous biocatalyst production and Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (SPO) process. Afed-batch process was designed to obtain high cell density for improving production of ε-caprolactone. The red-batch SPO process gave the best results, 10.2 g/L of ε-caprolactone and 0.34 g/(L · h) of productivity corresponding to a 10.5- and 3.4-fold enhancement compared with those of the batch SPO, respectively. Copyright © 2005 by Humana Press Inc. All rights of any nature whatsoever reserved.