Enzyme-Catalyzed Biotransformations

Dear Colleagues,

Today, enzyme-catalyzed biotransformations are recognized as an alternative to conventional chemical methods in chiral synthesis, with biocatalysis attracting significant attention mainly due to its high selectivity and mild reaction conditions. In recent decades, the use of biotransformation in the industry and academic society has rapidly increased based on the efficiency of the enzymes catalyzing different types of chemical transformations and their low environmental impact as well as high selectivity, lack of cofactor dependency, and ability to work in aqueous and/or organic media. Enzymes such as esterases, lipases, and proteases have allowed the production of various groups of products, such as biodiesel, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products with great regio- and chemoselectivity during the catalytical process. Activation or protection and deprotection steps of functional groups is usually not required for enzyme-catalyzed biotransformations. What is more, a complex chemical synthesis process involving the product with multiple chiral centers may be resolved by a simple and elegant bioconversion process. Therefore, the reduced number of process steps makes biotransformation more environmentally and economically attractive.

This Special Issue is devoted to the application of various enzymatic catalytic systems in the biotransformation of chiral compounds. Reviews and original research papers are invited. The potential topics include but are not limited to:

• New approaches in enzyme-catalyzed biotransformations;
• Heterogeneous catalysis including immobilized molecular catalysts;
• Heterogeneous catalysis including native molecular catalysts;
• Biotransformation mechanisms and kinetics;
• Enzyme immobilization protocol in the biotransformation of chiral entities.

Dr. Adam Sikora
Guest Editor

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