Singlet-Oxygen Generation by Peroxidases and Peroxygenases for Chemoenzymatic Synthesis.

Singlet oxygen is a reactive oxygen species undesired in living cells but a rare and valuable reagent in chemical synthesis. We present a fluorescence spectroscopic analysis of the singlet-oxygen formation activity of commercial peroxidases and novel peroxygenases. Singlet-oxygen sensor green (SOSG) is used as fluorogenic singlet oxygen trap. Establishing a kinetic model for the reaction cascade to the fluorescent SOSG endoperoxide permits a kinetic analysis of enzymatic singlet-oxygen formation. All peroxidases and peroxygenases show singlet-oxygen formation. No singlet oxygen activity could be found for any catalase under investigation. Substrate inhibition is observed for all reactive enzymes. The commercial dye-decolorizing peroxidase industrially used for dairy bleaching shows the highest singlet-oxygen activity and the lowest inhibition. This enzyme was immobilized on a textile carrier and successfully applied for a chemical synthesis. Here, ascaridole was synthesized via enzymatically produced singlet oxygen.

An enzyme cascade synthesis of ε-caprolactone and its oligomers.

Poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) is chemically produced on an industrial scale in spite of the need for hazardous peracetic acid as an oxidation reagent. Although Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMO) in principle enable the enzymatic synthesis of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) directly from cyclohexanone with molecular oxygen, current systems suffer from low productivity and are subject to substrate and product inhibition. The major limitations for such a biocatalytic route to produce this bulk chemical were overcome by combining an alcohol dehydrogenase with a BVMO to enable the efficient oxidation of cyclohexanol to ε-CL. Key to success was a subsequent direct ring-opening oligomerization of in situ formed ε-CL in the aqueous phase by using lipase A from Candida antarctica, thus efficiently solving the product inhibition problem and leading to the formation of oligo-ε-CL at more than 20 g L(-1) when starting from 200 mM cyclohexanol. This oligomer is easily chemically polymerized to PCL.

Direct biocatalytic one-pot-transformation of cyclohexanol with molecular oxygen into ɛ-caprolactone.

The development of a biocatalytic process concept for ɛ-caprolactone, which directly converts cyclohexanol as an easily available industrial raw material into the desired ɛ-caprolactone in a one-pot fashion while only requiring air as sole reagent, is reported. The desired product ɛ-caprolactone was obtained with 94-97% conversion when operating at a substrate concentration in the range of 20-60 mM. At higher substrate concentrations, however, a significant drop of conversion was found. Subsequent detailed studies on the impact of the starting material, intermediate and product components revealed a significant inhibition and partial deactivation of the BVMO by the product ɛ-caprolactone (in particular at higher concentrations) as well as an inhibition of the BVMO by cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone.

Characterization of calixarene-bonded stationary phases.

Calixarene-bonded stationary phases received growing interest in HPLC as stationary phases with special retention characteristics and selectivity. The commercially available unsubstituted and p-tert-butyl-substituted Caltrex(®) columns have been intensively studied and characterized in our workgroup. They can be used as reversed phases, yet they support additional interactions. Especially, their steric, polar and ionic properties differ from conventional alkyl-bonded phases. However, also the hydrophobic interaction shows differences since adsorption and partition interactions on or in a bonded layer of calixarenes are not similar to those of alkyl-bonded layers. The relative strength of the hydrophobic properties of the stationary phases has been found depending on the methanol concentration of the mobile phase. Generally, the dependencies of their interaction strengths on mobile-phase conditions, e.g. the change of the intensity of the hydrogen-bonding abilities with decreasing methanol content, are not similar from phase to phase either. This probably gives calixarene-bonded stationary phases enhanced suitability for analyses at extreme compositions of the mobile phase. An overview about the synthesis, retention and selectivity properties of Caltrex(®) columns is given here.

Separation of (Z)- and (E)-isomers of thioxanthene and dibenz[b,e]oxepin derivatives with calixarenes and resorcinarenes as additives in nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis.

Five acidic calix[4]arenes with carboxylic or sulfonic groups at either the upper or lower rim of the cavity and one resorc[4]arene were investigated to separate three thioxanthenes (flupentixol, clopenthixol, chlorprothixene) and a dibenz[b,e]oxepin derivative (doxepin) with cis-/trans-isomerism by nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE). Partial filling of the capillary with the UV-absorbing selectors led to a low detection limit and an advantageous signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). A sufficient electrophoretic mobility of the calixarenes towards the anode was necessary to outweigh the oppositely directed electroosmotic flow (EOF). This depended from the functional groups, the dissociation and the hydrodynamic radius of the cyclophanes. In contrast, the resorcinarene was useable only by addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) because only the complex of the two selectors had an anodic apparent electrophoretic mobility. p-Sulfonyl-calix[4]arene (ss-a1) was the most capable selector for all E/Z-isomers with maximal alpha-values ranging from 1.056 for doxepin to 1.224 for chlorprothixene. This was due to the sufficient migration in reversed direction to the EOF even at low pH* values of 3.0. Otherwise, electrostatic as well as hydrophobic interactions with the positively charged isomers seem to contribute to a superior recognition. Increasing the concentration up to 15 mM ss-a1 and using acidic media (pH* 5.0) led to high separation efficiency. Changing the organic solvent provides a powerful tool to improve selectivity with N,N-dimethylformamide-methanol (DMF-MeOH)-mixtures for thioxanthenes. Further electrophoretic parameters were optimized, such as the concentration of the electrolytes, the addition of SDS, the kind of electrolytes and the voltage. Distinct differences in selectivities were found between the derivatives with thioxanthene and dibenzo[b,e]oxepin ring system, respectively. Further, the different basic side chain was responsible for the different selectivity at higher pH* values. In contrast, the substitution at position 2 of the thioxanthenes played a secondary role. Based on the studies of single parameters a method for a simultaneous separation of the four pairs of isomers within 13 min was developed.

Characterization of calixarene- and resorcinarene-bonded stationary phases. I. Hydrophobic interactions.

New HPLC phases with supramolecular selectors on the basis of calixarenes and resorcinarenes were investigated for the first time by means of empirically based test mixtures. The tests, originally developed for common reversed phases, were chosen to evaluate fundamental chromatographic properties of the new materials. In the first part of these studies three descriptors (hydrophobic retention capacity--k'(hyd), hydrophobic selectivity--alpha(hyd), steric selectivity--alpha(ster)) were determined. Except of higher alpha(ster) values and alpha(hyd) values with some methods for the resorcinarene phase the phases with supramolecular selectors were classified as less hydrophobic possessing lower hydrophobic and steric selectivities compared to three RP-C18 phases and a p-tert-butyl phenyl ether phase. The results were confirmed by means of a separation of geometric isomers of thioxanthenes. In contrast, in spite of lower k'(hyd) and alpha(hyd) values calixarene phases were more selective than the Kromasil-C18 phase in the separation of gestagenic and androgenic steroids due to specific interactions with the steroids of similar lipophilicity.

Separation of cis- and trans-isomers of thioxanthene and dibenz[b,e]oxepin derivatives on calixarene- and resorcinarene-bonded high-performance liquid chromatography stationary phases.

The chromatographic behavior of six calix[n]arene phases (n=4, 6, 8) and one calix[4]resorcinarene phase is described for the separation of cis- and trans-isomers of three thioxanthene (flupentixol, clopenthixol, chlorprothixene) and one benz[b,e]oxepin derivative (doxepin). The influences of two different organic modifiers (MeOH, MeCN) for the separation of the isomers on every column are described. Different selectivities of the stationary phases exist as a function of the ring size of the calixarenes and their substitution at the "upper rim" with p-tert.-butyl groups. Furthermore, the influence of free phenol groups on the resorcinarene phase is discussed. Relations between structural elements of the analytes and the retention behavior on the stationary phases are found. The selectivity of the calixarene and resorcinarene stationary phases is compared with a RP-C18 phase containing the same base silica. Advantages of the resorcinarene as well as of the calixarene columns exist for the separation of cis- and trans-isomers of three compounds dependent from the substitution in position 2 of the thioxanthenes, respectively the kind of the basic side chain of all substances.