An ADH toolbox for raspberry ketone production from natural resources via a biocatalytic cascade

Raspberry ketone is a widely used flavor compound in food and cosmetic industry. Several processes for its biocatalytic production have already been described, but either with the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or incomplete conversion of the variety of precursors that are available in nature. Such natural precursors are rhododendrol glycosides with different proportions of ( R )- and ( S )-rhododendrol depending on the origin. After hydrolysis of these rhododendrol glycosides, the formed rhododendrol enantiomers have to be oxidized to obtain the final product raspberry ketone. To be able to achieve a high conversion with different starting material, we assembled an alcohol dehydrogenase toolbox that can be accessed depending on the optical purity of the intermediate rhododendrol. This is demonstrated by converting racemic rhododendrol using a combination of ( R )- and ( S )-selective alcohol dehydrogenases together with a universal cofactor recycling system. Furthermore, we conducted a biocatalytic cascade reaction starting from naturally derived rhododendrol glycosides by the use of a glucosidase and an alcohol dehydrogenase to produce raspberry ketone in high yield. Key points • LB-ADH, LK-ADH and LS-ADH oxidize (R)-rhododendrol • RR-ADH and ADH1E oxidize (S)-rhododendrol • Raspberry ketone production via glucosidase and alcohol dehydrogenases from a toolbox Graphical abstract