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Updated: Jun 8, 2025
Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Exploiting hydrogenases for biocatalytic hydrogenations
Daria Sokolova1, Kylie A Vincent1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QR, UK. kylie.vincent@chem.ox.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The ability of hydrogenase enzymes to activate H2 with excellent selectivity leads to many interesting possibilities for biotechnology driven by H2 as a clean reductant. Here, we review examples where hydrogenase enzymes have been used to drive native and non-native hydrogenation reactions in solution or as part of a redox cascade on a conductive support, with a focus on the developments we have contributed to this field. In all of the examples discussed, hydrogenation reactions are enabled by coupled redox reactions: the oxidation of H2 at a hydrogenase active site, linked electronically (via relay clusters in the enzyme and/or via conductive support) to the site of a reduction reaction, and we note how this parallels developments in site-separated reactivity in heterogeneous catalysis. We discuss the productivities achieved with biocatalytic hydrogenations, the scope for application of these approaches in industrial biotechnology, possibilities for scaling the production of hydrogenases, and future opportunities. Our focus is on NiFe hydrogenases, but we discuss briefly how FeFe hydrogenases might contribute to this field.
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