Lipases in Green Chemistry: Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) as New Green Solvents

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) may become important alternatives as versatile, biodegradable, and cost-effective solvents for biocatalysis. Especially for reactions where substrates and products of different polarities are combined, the design of a tailored solvent that may dissolve all compounds-while being enzyme-compatible at the same time-appears to be a strong ally in sustainable chemistry. Herein it is shown that the combination of DES with "water as cosolvent" (in a range from 5% to 20% water, v/v) leads to non-conventional solvents with significantly reduced viscosity. In these media, lipases and proteases can perform synthetic reactions efficiently, and hydrolytic side reactions remain suppressed (even at 20% water, v/v). The use of these less viscous non-conventional media could also provide options for hydrolase-catalyzed synthetic reactions even in continuous fashion.