Item

Abstract

Biocatalysis, the use of natural catalysts – enzymes – for the selective and environmentally friendly conversion of synthetic chemicals for pharmaceutical, agrochemical or fine chemical applications has received large interest from both academia and industry during recent years. A class of chemical reactions which is of particular interest but at the same time of high complexity is the oxidation of organic molecules using air as the oxidant.
In this PhD thesis, new enzymes were developed as catalysts for oxidation reactions by identifying novel enzymes and by improving existing ones. The enzyme families under study were the Cytochrome P450s and Baeyer-Villiger Monooxygenases. Efficient procedures were developed which allow for the synthetic application of these enzymes with high stereoselectivities and high catalyst lifetimes. Additionally, a new method was developed which enables the use of sunlight as the energy source for these reactions instead of the usual chemical energy, which helps in paving the way towards clean organic synthesis.