Continuous low-level supply or in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is essential for the stability of unspecific peroxygenases, which are deemed ideal biocatalysts for the selective activation of C–H bonds. To envisage potential large scale applications of combined catalytic systems the reactions need to be simple, efficient and produce minimal by-products. We show that gold-palladium nanoparticles supported on TiO2 or carbon have sufficient activity at ambient temperature and pressure to generate H2O2 from H2 and O2 and supply the oxidant to the engineered unspecific heme-thiolate peroxygenase PaDa-I. This tandem catalyst combination facilitates efficient oxidation of a range of C-H bonds to hydroxylated products in one reaction vessel with only water as a by-product under conditions that could be easily scaled.

The self‐sufficient cytochrome P450 monooxygenase CYP505E3 from Aspergillus terreus catalyzes the regioselective in‐chain hydroxylation of alkanes, fatty alcohols, and fatty acids at the ω‐7 position. It is the first reported P450 to give regioselective in‐chain ω‐7 hydroxylation of C10–C16 n‐alkanes, thereby enabling the one step biocatalytic synthesis of rare alcohols such as 5‐dodecanol and 7‐tetradecanol. It shows more than 70 % regioselectivity for the eighth carbon from one methyl terminus, and displays remarkably high activity towards decane (TTN≈8000) and dodecane (TTN≈2000). CYP505E3 can be used to synthesize the high‐value flavour compound δ‐dodecalactone via two routes: 1) conversion of dodecanoic acid into 5‐hydroxydodecanoic acid (24 % regioselectivity), which at low pH lactonises to δ‐dodecalactone, and 2) conversion of 1‐dodecanol into 1,5‐dodecanediol (55 % regioselectivity), which can be converted into δ‐dodecalactone by horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase.

Nanoparticles are very important materials for implementing nanotechnology in diverse areas and are abundant in nature as living organisms operate at a nanoscale. As nanoparticles exhibit interesting size-and shape-dependent physical and chemical properties, the synthesis of uniform nanoparticles with controlled sizes and shapes is of great importance. Nanoparticles are the end products of a wide variety of physical, chemical and biological processes, some of which are novel and radically different and others of which are quite commonplace. The ability to produce nanoparticles with specific shapes and controlled sizes could result in interesting new applications that can potentially be utilized in areas such as optics, electronics and the biomedical field. In the present study, we have demonstrated the ability of the thermophilic bacterium Thermus scotoductus SA-01 to synthesize gold nanoparticles and determined the effect of the physico-chemical parameters on particle synthesis. Furthermore, a protein purified from this bacterium is shown to be capable of reducing HAuCl 4 to form elemental nanoparticles in vitro. The protein was purified to homogeneity and identified through N-terminal sequencing as an ABC transporter, peptidebinding protein. It is speculated that this protein reduces Au(III) through an electron shuttle mechanism involving a cysteine disulphide bridge. Through manipulation of physico-chemical parameters, it was possible to vary nanoparticles in terms of number, shape and size. This is the first report of a transporter protein from a thermophile with the ability to produce nanoparticles in vitro thus expanding the limited knowledge around biological gold nanoparticle synthesis.