On the organic solvent and thermostability of the biocatalytic redox system of Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541

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Abstract
The sec‐alcohol dehydrogenase activity of whole cells of Rhodococcus ruber DSM 44541 has been employed as an efficient biocatalytic redox system due to the use of acetone and 2‐propanol at elevated concentrations for cofactor regeneration in the oxidation and reduction mode, respectively, and external addition of NADH/NAD+ can be omitted. The operational half‐life time of the redox system is 29 hours in 20% v/v acetone and 37 hours in 30% v/v 2‐propanol. The Redox system allows the enantioselective oxidation of sec‐alcohols and the asymmetric reduction of ketones to furnish (S)‐configurated alcohols in high optical purity. The stability of the cells towards further organic solvents was investigated. In addition, the system displays thermostability of up to 60°C and pH stability of up to pH 11. The system represents a simple to handle tool for environmentally benign redox reactions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 81: 865–869, 2003.