Production, Optimization and Characterization of Biobased Itaconic Acid from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Itaconic acid (IA) is an important bio-based platform chemical with applications in the production of polymers, coatings, resins, and other value-added materials. However, its conventional microbial production relies predominantly on microorganisms that present safety and process-related limitations. This study investigated Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4742 as a potentially safer microbial platform for the production of bio-based IA under submerged fermentation conditions. IA production was optimized using response surface methodology with a Box-Behnken design, considering glucose concentration, initial pH, and CaCI₂ concentration as independent variables. The maximum IA concentration of 1133.50 ± 54.92 mg/L was obtained at 30 °C, pH 4.5, with 10% (w/v) glucose and without CaCI₂ supplementation after 216 h of fermentation. The fermentation-derived IA was subsequently recovered and characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), and thermogravimetric analysis. The analytical results confirmed the molecular identity and high chromatographic purity of the recovered IA. Furthermore, the homopolymerization ability of the fermentation-derived IA was evaluated and compared with that of commercial IA under the same reaction conditions. The ¹H-NMR results demonstrated changes consistent with consumption of the IA C=C double bond following polymerization, indicating that the fermentation-derived IA retained its ability to undergo homopolymerization. Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of S. cerevisiae for producing structurally confirmed bio-based IA and provide a proof of concept for its use as a renewable monomer for poly(itaconic acid) synthesis, supporting its further investigation for the development of bio-based polymeric materials.