14 TSB-ACT-1R Biotechnology for Anti-Weeds (BAW)

该项目的目的是建立一种经济技术，以支持英国新型除草剂索尔戈隆的生产供应链。目前市场上还没有绿色的“天然完全相同”的除草剂，市面上可买到的主要种类的产品现正处于其生命周期的成熟阶段。索尔高利酮是一种强大的化感物质，目前由植物以极小的浓度产生。该项目寻求开发一种商业上可行的生物技术合成路线，使用以植物为基础的起始材料(可获得数千吨)。该项目将开发一条总部位于英国的供应链，旨在生产和销售这种化学品。牵头组织Hockley International是一家总部位于英国的农用化学品市场中小企业，通过TSB资助的KTP开发了一种方法，使用广泛可用的天然间苯二酚类脂合成山梨醇酮的饱和成分。霍克利现在拥有一种获得专利的方法，可以从腰果壳液(腰果仁生产的一种未作价的副产品，10万吨)中选择性地提取目标抗杂草分子的间苯二酚前体。霍克利目前的化学过程是一个五步路线，涉及到与铬的氧化。这笔资金将允许研究通过细胞色素P450酶氧化和酶甲基化将五个步骤减少到两个或三个步骤的可能性。还将对性质相同的合成分子进行现场测试，以评估其有效性和应用率。

The project aim is to establish an economic technology to support a UK-based supply chain for the production of the novel herbicide Sorgoleone. There is currently no green "nature identical" herbicide on the market, and the major classes of commercially available products are now in the mature phase of their life-cycle. Sorgoleone, a powerful allelopathic chemical, is currently produced by plants in minute concentration. This project seeks to develop a commerically viable biotech synthesis route using a plant based starting material (available in thousands of tonnes). The project will develop a UK-based supply chain aimed at producing and selling the chemical. The lead organisation, Hockley International, an UK based SME in the agrochemical market has developed, through a TSB funded KTP, a methodology for the synthesis of the saturated component of sorgoleone using a widely available natural resorcinolic lipid. Hockley has now a patented approach to selectively extract the resorcinolic precursor of the target anti-weed molecule from cashew nut shell liquid (a non-valorised sub-product of the cashew kernel production available in 100,000 tons). Hockley's current chemical process is a five step route involving an oxidation with chromium. This funding will allow investigation into the possible reduction of the five steps to a two or three-step route via a cytochrome P450 enzymatic oxidation and enzymatic methylation. Field testing of the nature-identical synthetic molecules will also be undertaken to estimate its efficacy and applications rates.