Bio-oxidation of Terpenes: An Approach for the Flavor Industry

Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Free-Based Porphyrins Incorporated to Silica Gel as Fluorescent Materials and Visible Light Catalysts Mimic Monooxygenases

“…Monoterpenes are known to play an important role in chemical ecology, where they act as pollinator attractants, repellents, sex pheromones, alerting pheromones, antifungal defences, or as part of defense secretion systems against predators (Banthorpe, 1994). Most of the microbial hydroxylation of terpenes and other exogenous substrates described so far are initiated by cytochrome P450 dependent monooxygenases (Duetz et al, 2003;Bicas at al., 2009). A number of microorganisms have been reported to convert limonene and pinene to notable monoterpenoid compounds (Chatterjee and Bhattacharyya, 2001;Yoo & Day, 2002;Duetz et al, 2003;Adams et al, 2003;Trytek & Fiedurek, 2005;Bicas at al., 2009), yet the amounts obtained (a few milligrams per litre) were insufficient for industrial applications.…”

“…Most of the microbial hydroxylation of terpenes and other exogenous substrates described so far are initiated by cytochrome P450 dependent monooxygenases (Duetz et al, 2003;Bicas at al., 2009). A number of microorganisms have been reported to convert limonene and pinene to notable monoterpenoid compounds (Chatterjee and Bhattacharyya, 2001;Yoo & Day, 2002;Duetz et al, 2003;Adams et al, 2003;Trytek & Fiedurek, 2005;Bicas at al., 2009), yet the amounts obtained (a few milligrams per litre) were insufficient for industrial applications. The drawbacks of this type of biotransformation systems are excess volatility of terpenes, insolubility in aqueous solutions, and their toxicity towards microorganisms (Krings & Berger, 1998).…”

Biological activity of terpene compounds produced by biotechnological methods

“…Moreover, for numerous valuable terpenoids with an oncotherapeutic potential, especially those which are enantiomerically pure and volatile, no chemical methods of synthesis have been developed so far. Potentially, some desirable unique terpenoids can be selectively produced by enzymatic or microbial transformation of abundant and low-priced terpenes, such as (R)-(+)-limonene and (À)-a-pinene (Bicas et al 2009;Schewe et al 2009;Trytek et al 2009;Fiedurek et al 2012). The antimicrobial activity of some of those compounds has been extensively studied but their action on human normal and tumour cells is still poorly understood.…”

Isolation and screening of microorganisms with potential for biotransformation of terpenic substrates

“…In general, fungi and yeasts responsible for the aroma are predominantly aerobic and utilize carbohydrates and organic acids and rarely alcohol as their main source of carbon (Scharpf et al, 1986). Many studies have been performed recently in terms of production of aroma using terpenes, resulting in wide variety of products (Oliveira and Strapasson, 2000;Aleu and Collado, 2001; Demyttenaere and Kimpe, 2001; Menéndez et al, 2002;Lindmark-Henriksson et al, 2003;Bicas and Pastore, 2009;Dioníso et al, 2009). The processing of agro-industrial products generates large quantities of waste, whose accumulation has been a serious problem of environmental pollution.…”