Biocatalyst for the environmentally friendly synthesis of vitamin E intermediate

The article describes several methods for the synthesis of biocatalysts based on horseradish root peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7) immobilized on various carriers (magnetic nanoparticles Fe3O4, SiO2, Al2O3, hypercrosslinked polystyrene brand MN-100 and Sepabeads EC-HA). The resulting biocatalytic systems can be used for the environmentally safe synthesis of the intermediate product of vitamin E, 2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone, by oxidizing 2,3,6-trimethylphenol with hydrogen peroxide. The covalent method of enzyme immobilization was used in the work. Chitosan was used as a modifying agent; glutaraldehyde and 3-aminopropyltritoxysilane were used to activate the enzyme carrier. For all biocatalysts, the optimal conditions for substrate oxidation—temperature and pH value (40 °C and pH 6.5)—have been selected. The best results on the oxidation of 2,3,6-trimethylphenol were shown by a biocatalyst based on peroxidase immobilized on magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles. This biocatalytic system has shown promising in 5 replicate experiments (the initial rate reached 8 μmol/l). The advantage of using magnetic nanoparticles as an enzyme carrier is the ease with which the magnetic biocatalyst can be removed from the reaction mixture.