Related Experiment Videos
Calculated ionisation potentials determine the oxidation of vanillin precursors by lignin peroxidase
R ten Have1, I M Rietjens, S Hartmans
1Department of Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences, Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands. Rimko.tenHave@algemeen.im.wau.nl
Abstract:
In view of the biocatalytic production of vanillin, this research focused on the lignin peroxidase (LiP) catalysed oxidation of naturally occurring phenolic derivatives: O-methyl ethers, O-acetyl esters, and O-glucosyl ethers. The ionisation potential (IP) of a series of model compounds was calculated and compared to their experimental conversion by LiP, defining a relative IP threshold of approximately 9.0 eV. Based on this threshold value only the O-acetyl esters and glucosides of isoeugenol and coniferyl alcohol would be potential LiP substrates. Both O-acetyl esters were tested and were shown to be converted to O-acetyl vanillin in molar yields of 51.8 and 2.3%, respectively.