Characterization of a novel marine microbial esterase and its use to make D-methyl lactate

Abstract

A novel marine microbial esterase PHE14 was cloned from the genome of Pseudomonas oryzihabitans HUP022 isolated from the deep sea of the western Pacific Ocean. Esterase PHE14 exhibited very good tolerance to most organic solvents, surfactants and metal ions tested, thus making it a good esterase candidate for organic synthesis that requires an organic solvent, surfactants or metal ions. Esterase PHE14 was utilized as a biocatalyst in the asymmetric synthesis of D-methyl lactate by enzymatic kinetic resolution. D-methyl lactate is a key chiral chemical. Contrary to some previous reports, the addition of an organic solvent and surfactants in the enzymatic reaction did not have a beneficial effect on the kinetic resolution catalyzed by esterase PHE14. Our study is the first report on the preparation of the enantiomerically enriched product D-methyl lactate by enzymatic kinetic resolution. The desired enantiomerically enriched product D-methyl lactate was obtained with a high enantiomeric excess of 99% and yield of 88.7% after process optimization. The deep sea microbial esterase PHE14 is a green biocatalyst with very good potential in asymmetric synthesis in industry and can replace the traditional organic synthesis that causes pollution to the environment.