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The use of enzymes for synthetic applications is a powerful and environmentally-benign approach to increase molecular complexity. Oxidoreductases selectively introduce oxygen and hydrogen atoms into myriad substrates, catalyzing the synthesis of chemical and pharmaceutical building blocks for chemical production. However, broader application of this class of enzymes is limited by the requirements of expensive cofactors and low operational stability. Herein, we show that morpholine-based buffers, especially 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), promote photoinduced flavoenzyme-catalyzed asymmetric redox transformations by regenerating the flavin cofactor via sacrificial electron donation and by increasing the operational stability of flavin-dependent oxidoreductases. The stabilization of the active forms of flavin by MOPS via formation of the spin correlated ion pair (3)[flavin(-)-MOPS+] ensemble reduces the formation of hydrogen peroxide, circumventing the oxygen dilemma under aerobic conditions detrimental to fragile enzymes.

Light-driven reduction of flavins, e.g. FAD or FMN, by sacrificial electron donors emerged as a convenient method to promote biocatalytic transformations. However, flavin activation has been restricted to oxygen-free conditions to prevent enzyme deactivation caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Herein, we show that the photoreduction of FMN by morpholines, including 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), lessens the deactivation of the enoate reductase XenB from Pseudomonas sp. during the stereoselective asymmetric enzymatic reduction of a model ,-unsaturated diketone under aerobic conditions, leading to a 91% GC-yield and a stereoselectivity greater than 94%. The kinetic stability of the thermolabile XenB was increased by more than 20-fold in MOPS buffer compared to that in Tris-HCl buffer, and a pronounced positive effect on the transition midpoint temperature was observed. The reactive form of the FMN photocatalyst is stabilized by the formation of a (3)[FMN--MOPS+] ensemble, which reduces the formation of hydrogen peroxide and other ROS in the presence of oxygen. These results contribute to broaden the application of photobiocatalytic transformations using flavin-dependent reductases.