Engineered alcohol oxidases catalyse transesterification in aqueous media without competing hydrolysis.

Wu, Bin; Ma, Yunjian; Feng, Chenhao; Ren, Limei; Domestici, Chiara; Wang, Yutong; Hilberath, Thomas; Hanefeld, Ulf et al. · Nat Commun · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Transesterification reactions are fundamental transformations in organic chemistry, yet performing them in aqueous media is challenging because of the competing hydrolysis reaction. In this study, we describe a mutant of alcohol oxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PcAOx-VPN) that also exhibits transesterification activity. Moreover, PcAOx-VPN displays no detectable hydrolytic activity, owing to its hydrophobic active site, which effectively excludes water. These characteristics make PcAOx-VPN a promising catalyst for transesterification reactions in aqueous media, a context that is typically compromised by competing hydrolysis.

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