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Aromas flow: eco-friendly, continuous, and scalable preparation of flavour esters

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Abstract

Flow-based biocatalysis offers advantages to perform multiphase reactions, including liquid–liquid reactions, due to intensified mass transfer, compartmentalization and high local concentration of the catalyst. Enzymatic immobilization leads to stable biocatalysts, with the possibility to incorporate them in continuous reactors. The combination between the two technologies allows for intensified process with high substrate concentration and high product recovery. The present paper is an excellent example of automated continuous biocatalytic process where a transferase from Mycobacterium smegmatis (MsAcT) was immobilized onto agarose beads and exploited for the preparation of a variety of flavour-esters, utilizing exclusively natural substrates, with excellent yields in 5-min reaction times. The corresponding products can be labelled and commercialized as natural too, thus increasing their market value.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement N. 792804 AROMAs-FLOW (M.L.C.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Martina Letizia Contente & Francesca Paradisi

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (DISFARM), University of Milan, via Mangiagalli 25, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Lucia Tamborini

  3. Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, via Mangiagalli 25, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Francesco Molinari

  4. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Francesca Paradisi

Authors
  1. Martina Letizia Contente
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  2. Lucia Tamborini
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  3. Francesco Molinari
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  4. Francesca Paradisi
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Contributions

In this manuscript, the work of Dr. Martina Contente (Marie Curie Fellow) has been capture in its essence with the design of a highly sustainable strategy for the preparation of natural flavour esters, using exclusively reagents found in nature. The precious collaboration with Prof. Molinari and Prof. Tamborini (co-corresponding author) has been key for the optimisation of flow set-up. Thirty different fragrances have been synthesised with an extremely versatile acyl transferase from M. smegmatis. The immobilised biocatalyst (just 1.9 mg) enabled extremely rapid reaction times (residence time was optimised to 5 minutes) in a biphasic system, without any loss of activity after a week of continuous operation.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lucia Tamborini or Francesca Paradisi.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Article Highlights

1. Flavour-ester formation was performed in an aqueous medium using an immobilized transferase from Mycobacterium smegmatis (MsAcT).

2. Flow-based strategy leads to intensified processes with high substrate loading, yields and unprecedented reaction times.

3. Natural substrates processed via enzymatic reaction allow for the commercialization of the corresponding products as natural too.

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Contente, M.L., Tamborini, L., Molinari, F. et al. Aromas flow: eco-friendly, continuous, and scalable preparation of flavour esters. J Flow Chem 10, 235–240 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41981-019-00063-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41981-019-00063-8

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