Electrocatalytic hydrocarbon hydroxylation by ethylbenzene dehydrogenase from Aromatoleum aromaticum

We report the electrocatalytic activity of ethylbenzene dehydrogenase (EBDH) from the β-proteobacterium Aromatoleum aromaticum. EBDH is a complex 155 kDa heterotrimeric molybdenum/iron-sulfur/heme protein which catalyzes the enantioselective hydroxylation of nonactivated ethylbenzene to (S)-1-phenylethanol without molecular oxygen as cosubstrate. Furthermore, it oxidizes a wide range of other alkyl-substituted aromatic and heterocyclic compounds to their secondary alcohols. Hydroxymethylferrocenium (FM) is used as an artificial electron acceptor for EBDH in an electrochemically driven catalytic system. Electrocatalytic activity of EBDH is demonstrated with both its native substrate ethylbenzene and the related substrate p-ethylphenol. The catalytic system has been modeled by electrochemical simulation across a range of sweep rates and concentrations of each substrate, which provides new insights into the kinetics of the EBDH catalytic mechanism.