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

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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.