Production of epoxypropane from propene catalyzed by whole cells of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b

Tao Su, Bing Han, Cheng Yang, Hao Wu, Hao Jiang, Xin Li, Xinhui Xing*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The methane monooxygenase of methanotrophs is capable of catalyzing propene to produce epoxypropane directly in one step, without formation of by-products except water. Compared with the chemical synthesis method for production of epoxypropane, the biosynthesis has promising potential due to the mild reaction conditions, high selectivity and environmental friendliness. In this paper, the conditions were optimized for production of epoxypropane from propene with Methylosinus trichosporim OB3b whole cells cultivated by the traditional method, including temperatures, initial propene concentrations, sodium formate and MgCl2 concentrations, which are important factors affecting the epoxypropane biosythesis. Based on the optimization results, the performance of epoxypropane production carried out with M. trichosporium OB3b of high cell density was investigated, which was obtained by a novel rapid cultivation method developed by the authors. The final concentration of epoxypropane was almost four times of the highest productivity reported so far.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1767-1772
Number of pages6
JournalHuagong Xuebao/CIESC Journal
Volume60
Issue number7
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Epoxypropane
  • High cell density cultivation
  • Methanotroph
  • Whole cell catalysis

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Su, T., Han, B., Yang, C., Wu, H., Jiang, H., Li, X., & Xing, X. (2009). Production of epoxypropane from propene catalyzed by whole cells of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b. Huagong Xuebao/CIESC Journal, 60(7), 1767-1772.