Projects

Scientific project objectives: 1. To design new solid catalysts for aliphatic amine racemization, and use them for dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of racemic aliphatic amines to enantiopure amides, preferably in a flow chemistry setting; Progress in comparison with state-of-the-art: there are so far no such racemisation catalysts known, resulting in a lack of methods for synthesis of enantiopure amides from racemic aliphatic amines ...

The conversion of renewable resources (e.g. biomass, CO2, etc.) to medium- and high volume molecules via catalytic processes (e.g. homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis, biocatalysis, etc.) is one of the pillars of the bio-based transition. Yet, when considered individually, most catalytic technologies have intrinsic limitations and critical bottlenecks that hamper their development. Coupling biology and heterogeneous catalysis in ...

In this project we aim to develop new pathways for the biocatalytic synthesis of rare sugars and derivatives. To that end, various enzymes will be optimized by protein engineering and then combined in a one-pot reaction vessel. The process starts from sucrose as abundant and renewable resource and allows obtaining the target products with high yields and minimal costs.

Glycoside phosphorylases are able to synthesize specialty carbohydrates starting from cheap glycosyl phosphates as donor substrates. Unfortunately, the number of available specificities currently is very limited and their products are rarely relevant for the industry. This portfolio will, therefore, be significantly expanded through a combination of state-of-the-art techniques in database mining and enzyme engineering.

In this project, biocatalytic processes will be developed for the glycosylation of small organic molecules. To that end, new transglycosidases, glycoside phosphorylases and glycoside hydrolases will be identified by screening of natural and mutant libraries, with the use of special fluorescent probes. The reactions will be scaled-up at pilot plant facilities to allow the commercial exploitation of the glycosylated products.

Deoxysugars are important building blocks of several bioactive carbohydrates and derivatives (e.g. glycopeptide antibiotics). Their further exploration is, however, severely hampered by the complex and expensive procedures that are currently required for their production. In this project, new enzymes will be developed and integrated in artificial biosynthetic pathways that make use of sucrose as cheap and abundant starting material.