Enzymatic hydrolysis of β-lactam antibiotics at low pH in a two-phase "aqueous solution - water-immiscible organic solvent" system

Abstract

The application of the two-phase "aqueous solution – water-immiscible organic solvent" system is suggested not for effective biocatalytic synthesis, but for hydrolytic purposes. Enzymatic hydrolysis of benzylpenicillin and N-phenylacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid to corresponding antibiotic nuclei 6-aminopenicillanic and 7-aminodesacetoxycephalosporanic acids in a two-phase water–butylacetate system at pH 3–4 is proposed as an alternative to the biocatalytic hydrolysis in an alkaline medium. An experimental study has been performed and a model has been developed, which describes the influence of pH, phase volume ratio, thermodynamic constants, and initial antibiotic concentration on the effectiveness of their hydrolysis in a two-phase "aqueous solution – water-immiscible organic solvent" system. The thermodynamic evaluation of penicillin G and 7-phenylacetamidodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid hydrolysis at low pH in a two-phase aqueous solution – water-immiscible organic solvent system has demonstrated high practical potential. The suggested approach allows for the exclusion of several technological steps during the transformation of natural β-lactam antibiotics to their semi-synthetic analogues: alkaline extraction of the biosynthetic antibiotic from butylacetate followed by its enzymatic hydrolysis at pH 7.5–8.0 and further acidification of the reaction mixture, which results in the precipitation of the antibiotic nucleus. Experimental observations also revealed a specific feature of this process: the kinetic supersaturation of the antibiotic nucleus slows down the attainment of the equilibrium, which should be taken into account when further developing this approach.Key words: enzymatic hydrolysis, β-lactam antibiotic nuclei, two-phase systems, supersaturation, penicillin acylase.