Ionic Liquids as Tool to Improve Enzymatic Organic Synthesis

Ionic liquids (ILs) have now been acknowledged as reaction media for biotransformations. The first three examples were reported in this field in 2000, and since then, numerous applications have been reported for biocatalytic reactions using ILs. Two topics using ILs for enzymatic reactions have been reviewed from the standpoint of biocatalyst mediating organic synthesis; the first is “Biocatalysis in Ionic Liquids” which includes various types of biocatalytic reactions in ILs (section 2): (1) recent examples of lipase-mediated reactions using ILs as reaction media for biodiesel oil production and for sugar ester production, (2) oxidase-catalyzed reactions in ILs, (3) laccase-catalyzed reactions, (4) peroxidase-catalyzed reactions, (4) cytochrome-mediated reactions, (5) microbe-mediated hydrations, (6) protease-catalyzed reactions, (8) whole cell mediated asymmetric reduction of ketones, (10) acylase-catalyzed reactions, (11) glycosylation or cellulase-mediated hydrolysis of polysaccharides, (12) hydroxynitrile lyase-catalyzed reaction, (13) fluorinase or haloalkane dehydrogenase-catalyzed reaction, (14) luciferase-catalyzed reactions, and (15) biocatalytic promiscuity of enzymatic reactions for organic synthesis using ILs. The second is “Enzymes Activated by Ionic Liquids for Organic Synthesis”, particularly describing the finding story of activation of lipases by the coating with a PEG-substituted IL (section 3). The author’s opinion toward “Future Perspectives of Using ILs for Enzymatic Reactions” has also been discussed in section 4.