Biotechnologies in Perfume Manufacturing: Metabolic Engineering of Terpenoid Biosynthesis

Abstract

The fragrance industry is increasingly turning to biotechnology to produce sustainable and high-quality fragrance ingredients. Microbial-based approaches have been found to be particularly promising, as they offer a more practical, economical and sustainable alternative to plant-based biotechnological methods for producing terpene derivatives of perfumery interest. Among the evaluated works, the heterologous expression of both terpene synthase and mevalonate pathway into Escherichia coli has shown the highest yields. Biotechnology solutions have the potential to help address the growing demand for sustainable and high-quality fragrance ingredients in an economically viable and responsible manner. These approaches can help compensate for supply issues of rare or impermanent raw materials, while also meeting the increasing demand for sustainable ingredients and processes. Although scaling up biotransformation processes can present challenges, they also offer advantages in terms of safety and energy savings. Exploring microbial cell factories for the production of natural fragrance compounds is a promising solution to both supply difficulties and the demand for sustainable ingredients and processes in the fragrance industry.

Sniffing Out the Sustainable Future: The Renewability Revolution in Fragrance Chemistry**

“…In addition, several attempts were undertaken to produce limonene via biotechnological processes. [63] This closes the loop to valorize CST not only for terpenes and derivatives such as myrcene (23) [64] but also for limonene-based chemicals (vide infra, section 5.2).…”

“…[87] Another important grassy-green, herbal odorant is Vertocitral (62, Scheme 9), [88,89,90] which is synthesized by Diels-Alder reaction of 2-methyl-1,3-pentadiene with acrolein (67), thus of purely petrochemical origin. The similarly smelling Vernaldehyde (65) [91] is generally considered non-renewable, but if it is synthesized by Diels-Alder reaction of methacrolein (63) and myrcene (23), a renewable quality could be implemented in short term.…”

“…Several attempts were undertaken to transform α‐ or β‐pinene from crude sulfate turpentine (CST) into limonene ( 8 / 24 ) or mixtures comparable to citrus oils in an effort to cover the demand for sustainable solvents, biopolymer building blocks and starting materials for fine, flavor and fragrance chemistry. In addition, several attempts were undertaken to produce limonene via biotechnological processes [63] . This closes the loop to valorize CST not only for terpenes and derivatives such as myrcene ( 23 ) [64] but also for limonene‐based chemicals ( vide infra , section 5.2).…”