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）和约翰逊万丰（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精香料（F&F）工业相关的对映体纯挥发性硫化合物（VSC），并开发使用这些酶的工业工艺。该项目完全符合BBSRC的战略优先事项“工业生物技术的新战略方法”。VSC构成了至少含有C-S键的广泛类别的化学品，并且有助于食品和饮料的令人愉快和不愉快的F&F。大多数VSC以手性异构体存在。VSC的嗅觉感知依赖于C-S立体中心的构型。例如，3-硫代-己醇的（R）-对映异构体具有热带水果香味，而（S）-对映异构体具有青草气味。从F&F工业制造的角度来看，VSC的合成是一个挑战，因为它们的天然挥发性、低化学稳定性和与标准不对称化学方法不相容的硫化合物的不同反应性。即使具有挑战性，经济回报也很高，使得化学和F&F行业热衷于确定新的战略研究，以开发温和，经济可行，更高效，选择性和可持续的制造路线。在与JM的合作中，拥有世界领先的化学品制造经验，包括F&F，将开发一种新的工业可持续方法来合成VSC。新的ADH和ERED酶将利用JM的设施和工业平台进行设计和开发，并用于从非手性底物对映选择性合成VSC。该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.