A dual cellular–heterogeneous catalyst strategy for the production of olefins from glucose

Zhen Q. Wang, Heng Song, Edward J. Koleski, Noritaka Hara, Dae Sung Park, Gaurav Kumar, Yejin Min, Paul J. Dauenhauer, Michelle C.Y. Chang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Living systems provide a promising approach to chemical synthesis, having been optimized by evolution to convert renewable carbon sources, such as glucose, into an enormous range of small molecules. However, a large number of synthetic structures can still be difficult to obtain solely from cells, such as unsubstituted hydrocarbons. In this work, we demonstrate the use of a dual cellular–heterogeneous catalytic strategy to produce olefins from glucose using a selective hydrolase to generate an activated intermediate that is readily deoxygenated. Using a new family of iterative thiolase enzymes, we genetically engineered a microbial strain that produces 4.3 ± 0.4 g l−1 of fatty acid from glucose with 86% captured as 3-hydroxyoctanoic and 3-hydroxydecanoic acids. This 3-hydroxy substituent serves as a leaving group that enables heterogeneous tandem decarboxylation–dehydration routes to olefinic products on Lewis acidic catalysts without the additional redox input required for enzymatic or chemical deoxygenation of simple fatty acids. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1178-1185
Number of pages8
JournalNature chemistry
Volume13
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering

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