Haloperoxidase enzymes as 'redox catalysts' important for industrial biocatalysis

Abstract

The use of enzymes as industrial catalysts is becoming increasingly important since they are able to carry out chemistry in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. (Woodley 2008) Such natural (and modified) catalysts are replacing many conventional chemistry processes and have the added advantage of carrying out many of their reactions in a stereospecific manner (see also Explanatory Box 1). One problem that can hinder enzyme use is their limited stability under the conditions of the industrial process. The enzymes can be used as 'whole cell' biocatalysts which may circumvent some of these stability issues. This, however, can lead to additional problems with transporting substrate(s) into the cells and the purity of the resultant product which can also be converted further by other cellular enzymes. In addition, downstream processing to recover the product is more demanding. In most cases the biocatalytic reaction is therefore carried out with a purified enzyme preparation which is often stabilized by immobilization.