Polluting industrial processes can be made safer through the use of enzymes. However, only a small selection of enzymes is available to the chemical industry. Recently, a group of researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen succeeded in producing an artificial enzyme that outlines the route to preparing enzymes for any application.
Polluting industrial processes can be made safer through the use of enzymes. However, only a small selection of enzymes is available to the chemical industry. Recently, a group of researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen succeeded in producing an artificial enzyme that outlines the route to preparing enzymes for any application.
This new enzyme, which is different from any other natural enzyme, is distinguished in three aspects: its effect is great, it is simple to produce and it is the first artificial enzyme capable of accelerating oxidation processes with the help of the simple and cheap compound hydrogen peroxide.
Oxidation processes are considered one of the cornerstones of all chemical production, from dyes to medicines. However, typical oxidants have come to be known as dangerous ingredients. This is why enzymes are so desirable, especially if it is possible to determine in advance their required activity. First, they can be designed to be extremely picky. But, even more important is their ability to operate in human conditions, unlike their usual chemical counterparts, which sometimes require high temperatures, extreme pressures and a corrosive environment.
Until recently, enzymes were exclusively found only in microorganisms in nature. However, the challenges faced by the enzymes in microorganisms and industrial companies are very different from each other. Therefore, the industry lacked environmentally friendly substitutes for chemicals. The new artificial enzyme from Copenhagen adds a whole new family of tools to chemists and is fast, though not fast enough.
Usually, natural enzymes speed up chemical reactions up to about a million times. The new enzyme, on the other hand, speeds up reactions up to only ten thousand times, a rate that should not be underestimated, the researchers point out.
"We have been developing these materials since 2000. When we managed to discover the first enzyme, its reaction acceleration was only 25 times, so I believe we are talking about a real breakthrough here," says the lead researcher.
As these new enzymes get closer to natural reaction times, they will certainly become more and more important in sensitive processes such as those used in the pharmaceutical industry.
