Simultaneous Biocatalyst Production and Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation for Bioconversion of Cyclohexanone by Recombinant <I>Escherichia coli</I> Expressing Cyclohexanone Monooxygenase

Abstract

Cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) catalyzing Baeyer-Villiger oxidation converts cyclic ketones into optically pure lactones, which have been used as building blocks in organic synthesis. A recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)/pMM4 expressing CHMO originated from Acinetobacter sp. NCIB 9871 was used to produce epsilon-caprolactone through a simultaneous biocatalyst production and Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (SPO) process. A fed-batch process was designed to obtain high cell density for improving production of epsilon-caprolactone. The fed-batch SPO process gave the best results, 10.2 g/L of epsilon-caprolactone and 0.34 g/(L.h) of productivity, corresponding to a 10.5- and 3.4-fold enhancement compared with those of the batch SPO, respectively.