Development of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and ene-reductase (ERED) enzymes for the production of enantiopure sulphur-containing flavours and fragranc

该项目是国王学院（KCL）和庄信万丰（JM）之间新合作的结果，旨在开发新型酶，用于可持续合成与香料和香料（F&F）行业相关的对构异构纯挥发性硫化合物（VSC），并开发使用这些酶的工业过程。该项目完全符合BBSRC的战略重点“工业生物技术的新战略方法”。VSC构成了一大类至少含有一个C-S键的化学物质，对食品和饮料的美味和不美味的F&F都有贡献。大多数VSC以手性异构体存在。VSC的嗅觉知觉依赖于C-S立体中心的结构。例如，3-硫己醇的(R)-对映体具有热带水果的香气，而(S)-对映体具有草的气味。从F&F工业制造的角度来看，VSC的合成是一个挑战，因为它们具有天然挥发性，化学稳定性低，硫化合物的反应活性不同，与标准的不对称化学方法不相容。尽管具有挑战性，但经济回报很高，这使得化学和食品行业热衷于确定新的战略研究，以开发温和的、经济上可行的、更高效的、有选择性的和可持续的生产路线。与JM合作，JM在包括F&F在内的化学品制造方面拥有世界领先的经验，将开发一种新的工业可持续合成VSC的方法。新的ADH和ERED酶将利用JM现有的设施和工业平台设计和开发，并用于从非手性底物合成VSC的对映选择性。这个项目是高度跨学科的，将化学合成和分析化学与酶进化、分子生物学和F&F制造工艺相结合。

This project comes as the result of a new collaboration between King's College (KCL) and Johnson Matthey (JM) and it aims at the development of novel enzymes for the sustainable synthesis of enantiomerically pure volatile sulphur compounds (VSC) relevant to flavours and fragrances (F&F) industry and to develop industrial processes using these enzymes. The project fully aligns with the BBSRC strategic priority "New strategic approaches to industrial biotechnology". VSC constitute a wide class of chemicals containing at least a C-S bond and contributing to both agreeable and disagreeable F&F of foods and beverages. Most VSC exist as chiral isomers. Olfactory perception of VSC depends on the configuration of the C-S stereocentre. For example, the (R)- enantiomer of 3-thio-hexanol has a tropical fruit aroma, while the (S)-enantiomer has a grassy smell. From the perspective of F&F industrial manufacturing, the synthesis of VSC represents a challenge due to their natural volatility, low chemical stability and different reactivity of sulphur compounds incompatible with the standard asymmetric chemistry methods. Even if challenging, the economic reward is high, making chemical and F&F industries keen to identify new strategic research to develop mild, economically-viable, more efficient, selective and sustainable manufacturing routes. In collaboration with JM, that has world leading experience in the manufacturing of chemicals, including F&F, a new industrially sustainable approach for the synthesis of VSC will be developed. New ADH and ERED enzymes will be designed and developed taking advantage of the facilities and industrial platforms available at JM and used for the enantioselective synthesis of VSC from achiral substrates. This project is highly interdisciplinary, combining chemical synthesis and analytical chemistry with enzyme evolution, molecular biology and F&F manufacturing processes.