Biocatalysis
Biocatalysis has become an established technology for the industrial manufacture of fine chemicals and active pharma. The application of enzymes as catalysts for chemical synthesis, has become a valuable tool for the synthetic chemist. Enzymatic transformations carried out by partially purified enzymes or whole-cell catalysts are used for the production of a wide variety of chemicals, from bulk to fine chemicals.
In recent years, chemical companies have embraced biocatalysis for the manufacture of desired stereoisomers, and new or improved methods for the synthesis of enantiomerically pure alpha- and beta-amino acids, amines, amides, peptides, nitriles, alcohols etc. have emerged.
Furthermore, the selectivity and mild operational conditions of biocatalysts are increasingly applied in industry to modify complex target molecules. These recent innovations in the manufacture of industrial fine chemicals using biocatalysis are discussed from an industrial perspective.
Several procedures have been reported for the development of biocatalytic processes comprising integrating biocatalysts into a variety of industrially interesting processes ranging from the manufacture of smaller, chiral speciality chemicals to the synthesis of more complex pharmaceutical intermediates. The use of rational protein design, multistep processes and de novo design of enzyme catalysts for the stereocontrolled preparation of important target structures further contributed to its success.
Procedures have been established for biocatalytic single-step reactions. Multi-step reactions and multi-component reactions enable an approach where biocatalytic reactions work together in one compartment and reactions hindering each other within different compartments or steps. The understanding of the catalytic functions of known and new enzymes is key for the development of new sustainable chemical transformations.
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Enzymes immobilized on membranes
ChiralVision is partner in the EU subsidized MACBETH project which provides a breakthrough technology of highly efficient catalytic membrane reactor for advanced downstream processing by combining catalytic synthesis with the corresponding separation units in a single reactor.
With this technology a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an increase in resource and energy efficiency of large volume industrial processes can be achieved. The revolutionary new reactor design will guarantee substantially smaller and safer production plants and thus reduce operational and investment costs.
To demonstrate the exploitation potential, MACBETH will extend the catalytic membrane reactor technology to the field of biotechnology, as most biotechnological reactions involve the use of bacteria or enzymes, which are special types of catalysts. In this field, the selective enzymatical cleavage of fatty acids is of particularly high commercial interest. Based on alarge variety of already established building blocks (such as catalysts, membranes, support materials and reactor concepts) a demo plant for bio-catalytical oil cleavage (BOC) will be developed, showing the commercial applicability of catalytic membrane reactor in biotechnology for the first time.
Immobilization technology
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Today state of the art carriers provide excellent immobilized enzyme products. ChiralVision is the leading company in the development and manufacturing of an innovative range of carriers for various industries, including life sciences / pharma, chemical, intermediate, cosmetics and personal care, energy, food and environment. Many of our products are used as catalysts in various industrial processes.
ChiralVision offers customers across a broad array of markets tomorrows industrial biosolutions, improving our customers' business. Immobilized enzymes help towards a better environment and reduced production costs, improve the safety and stability. With our guaranteed promise of consistency and long-term supply, we can streamline your product development process, allowing you to commercialize your product faster, while maintaining safety and compliance.
To learn more about our products please continue reading or just click on our product catalogs or call one of our representatives for more details.
ChiralVisions Immobead(TM) caught on a 50 micrometer filter.
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Macro- and gigaporous Immobeads
In 1916 Nelson and Griffin discovered that invertase “exhibited the same activity when absorbed on a solid (charcoal or aluminum hydroxide) at the bottom of the reactionvessel as when uniformly distributed throughout the solution”. This discovery was the first of various enzyme immobilization techniques currently available. Besides adsorption, different covalent methods of enzyme immobilization were developed in the 1950s and 1960s.
Up to now, more than 5000 publications and patents have been published on enzyme immobilization techniques. Several hundred enzymes have been immobilized in different forms and approximately a dozen immobilized enzymes, for example penicillin G acylase, lipases, proteases, invertase, etc. have been used as catalysts in various large scale processes.
Now an increasing range of carriers with a wide choice of enzymes suiting both batch and continuous processes are commercially available. ChiralVision has developed an new range of macro- and gigaporous carriers suitable for any type of enzyme with a low diffusion limitation ensuring high activity. These are available for large scale production at guaranteed minimized costs. As a result of these developments, the number of industrial applications is steadily growing and the ongoing progress will ensure continued success in meeting new challenges.
SpinChem reactor
SpinChem® is an innovative and unique concept for mass transfer enhancement in reactions involving solid phase reagents, encompassing several different ways of using the stirring element itself to establish a forced flow through a heterogeneous reactant or catalyst bed, which is located inside the stirrer body.
SpinChem reactor
Improved Mass Transfer: The conventional way of carrying out batch processing with solid-phase reagents is to suspend the particulate material directly in the stirred reaction mixture. This causes the reagent particles to be carried along by a largely laminar fluid flow and often results in production of fines due to mechanical wear.
Inter-phase mass transport in a stirred suspension takes place mainly by diffusion, which is notoriously slow in liquids. Rather extreme stirring is therefore needed to create the turbulent flow necessary to establish convective mass transfer. The smaller the surface area and the lower the number of particles used, the slower the reaction will be, and the solid reagent is therefore often dosed in unnecessary high amounts.
SpinChem® presents the optimal solution to this problem by providing an efficient way of continuously percolating the reagent/catalyst/scavenger bed with fresh reaction solution. This ensures optimum mass transfer, minimizes production of fines caused by grinding effects, and saves time and reagents. The SpinChem® system is furthermore scalable from laboratory through pilot and production scales.
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His-tag Immobead Kit
This kit contains a series of carriers that allow for the selective immobilization via His tags on ChiralVision’s superior gigaporous Immobeads. The kit contains 5 carriers which combine various polar and apolar surfaces with nickel pre-loaded binding sites for enzymes and proteins with His-tags. All carriers are available in bulk.
For more information please email: info@chiralvision.com