Sustainability, entrepreneurship, progress - what can biotechnology achieve?
This question is answered by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt together with Bio Deutschland - the German Biotechnology Industry Organisation and other project partners at Europe's No. 1 trade fair for biotechnology and life science. The DBU funding in this area focuses primarily on the goals of environmental sustainability and the saving of resources. Central unique feature is an integrated eco-efficiency in every project. It ensures that the development of products and processes consider both economic and ecological aspects. The following projects are presented from 11 - 13 October at the stand E 40 by DBU and Bio Deutschland Hannover e. V. :
• Sustainable and value-added synthesis of profen by selective biocatalytic oxidation processes (Chiracon GmbH / Luckenwalde www.chiracon.de):
Profens such as ibuprofen and naproxen are commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesics. In the chemical synthesis two molecular types are produced in equal parts - the S-enantiomer and the R-enantiomer. However, the S-enantiomer is a hundred times more effective, allowing that only a maximum of 50 percent of the chemically synthesized yield are used medicinally.
Starting materials for the biotechnological production of profen are racemic aldehydes which are easily to syn-thesize. In a dynamic kinetic scission they are oxidized by certain stereoselectively working enzymes (dehydro-genases) to the desired enantiomer profen with a yield of nearly 100 percent.
The advantages of this biocatalytic process are:
This means increased efficiency and a significant relief of the environment and consequently lower production costs.
Oxidative enzymes known as oxidoreductases catalyze redox reactions in which electrons are transferred from one reactant to another. They are found in all living organisms, where they provide important metabolic pro-cesses. A special feature makes these enzymes interesting for biotechnological applications in the chemical industry - they allow the use of molecular oxygen as cosubstrate and thus functionalized intermediates or end products for basic and fine chemistry.
The Greifswald Enzymicals AG succeeded in constructing various Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMO), and established their technical manufacturing and marketing. BVMO catalyze reactions of esters, carboxylic acids and lactones. For the synthesis of ε-caprolactone, a basic product for the manufacture of polyesters and poly-ethers, a whole biocatalytic process was developed and characterized. The sesame-Biotech GmbH, Bremen, developed on the basis of a vast variety of mutant libraries tailored catalytic enzymes which have been made available to the other project partners.
As a competence and coordination platform and initiated by the DBU, the research network ChemBioTec supports the implementation of new biotechnological production processes. Here are the relevant project partners from research and industry - for example, research institutions, small and medium enterprises and the large industry - linked and supported.
So far in the biotechnology sector a total of 212 projects were funded by the DBU with € 57.7 million. The DBU has twice awarded the German Environmental Award, Europes best endowed environmental award to protag-onists of white biotechnology.
Contact: Dr. Hans-Christian Schaefer, Tel: 0541/9633-321, e-mail: hc.schaefer@dbu.de
www.dbu.de
