Enzyme cascade reaction monitoring and control

Abstract

Enzymatic reaction cascades often consist of various starting materials, intermediates, products, and possible side products. To establish a highly efficient cascade reaction it is necessary to monitor these components, which enables an optimization of the overall system. The scope of this chapter is to provide knowledge about the basic principles of inline analytical technologies. Different definitions about the position and the type of measurement technique are introduced. Additionally, information on the accuracy and the limit of detection are given. Since for most inline methods a chemometric model for the calculation of concentration data from inline determined measurements is needed, a short introduction on chemometrics is provided. Furthermore, inline analytical tools which are suitable for the application in enzymatic cascade reactions are discussed and examples are given to highlight the possibilities arising by the use of such technologies. The analytical devices are critically assessed in terms of their applicability and a general workflow is given on the procedure of setting up inline or online analytical methods. At the end of the chapter, the impact of inline analytics used for monitoring and controlling enzymatic reaction cascades on the design of (industrial) processes is discussed and shortly the concepts of "quality by design" and "quality by control" are introduced.