Whole‐cell biocatalysis platform for gram‐scale oxidative dearomatization of phenols

Technologies enabling new enzyme discovery and efficient protein engineering have spurred intense interest in the development of biocatalytic reactions. In recent years, whole‐cell biocatalysis has received attention as a simple, efficient, and scalable biocatalytic reaction platform. Inspired by these developments, we have established a whole‐cell protocol for oxidative dearomatization of phenols using the flavin‐dependent monooxygenase, TropB. This approach provides a scalable biocatalytic platform for accessing gram‐scale quantities of chiral synthetic building blocks.The development of scalable and economical biocatalytic reaction platforms is critical for the application of biocatalysis in synthetic chemistry. Therefore, we have established a whole‐cell method for the oxidative dearomatization of phenols using the flavin‐dependent monooxygenase, TropB. In comparison with reactions using isolated enzyme, our whole‐cell method allowed us to perform tenfold more reactions per liter of cell culture, without loss of site‐ or stereoselectivity.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150545/1/cbdd13443.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150545/2/cbdd13443_am.pd