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Recombinant Escherichia coli cells harboring nitrilase from Alcaligenes faecalis were immobilized using tris(hydroxymethyl)phosphine (THP) as the coupling agent. The optimal pH and temperature of the THP-immobilized cells were determined at pH 8.0 and 55 °C. The half-lives of THP-immobilized cells measured at 35, 40, and 50 °C were 1800, 965, and 163 h, respectively. The concentration of R-mandelic acid (R-MA) reached 358 mM after merely 1-h conversion by the immobilized cells with 500 mM R,S-mandelonitrile (R,S-MN), affording the highest productivity of 1307 g L−1 day−1 and the space-time productivity of 143.2 mmol L−1 h−1 g−1. The immobilized cells with granular shape were successfully recycled for 60 batches using 100 mM R,S-MN as substrate at 40 °C with 64% of relative activity, suggesting that the immobilized E. coli cells obtained in this study are promising for the production of R-MA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recirculating packed bed reactor (RPBR) was used for efficient production ofR-mandelic acid (R-MA) by kinetic resolution of racemicR,S-mandelonitrile (R,S-MN) using the recombinantE. colicells crosslinked with diatomite (DA)/glutaraldehyde (GA)/polyethyleneimine (PEI). The performance and productivity of RPBR were evaluated by several parameters, including cell load, substrate feeding rate, height diameter (H/D) ratio, reactor structures, and operation stability. The kinetic resolution process showed higher initial reaction rate (1.52 mM/min) and yield (100%) by recycling 100 mL of substrate solution (70 mM) through RPBR packed with 6.0 g immobilized cells at a substrate-feeding rate of 19 mL/min while the H/D ratio was 2.8. The immobilized cells were successfully applied into kinetic resolution ofR,S-MN in the RPBR for 50 batches with an average productivity of 4.12 g/L/h forR-MA with >99% of enantiomeric excess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

( R)-(−)-Mandelic acid ( R-MA) is widely used both as a versatile intermediate for pharmaceuticals and a resolving agent in chiral resolution processes. In the current study, to improve the stability of operation, recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing nitrilase from Alcaligenes faecalis were immobilized for the enantioselective hydrolysis of ( R, S)-mandelonitrile to R-MA. Different immobilization methods including entrapment matrices, entrapment matrices cross-linked by cross-linking and polymerization agents, and direct cross-linking cells using glutaraldehyde (GA) or bionic silicon were investigated. To facilitate industrial solid-liquid separation, the direct cross-linking recombinant E. coli cells using diatomite/GA/polyethyleneimine with 135.95% relative activity compared with free cells was chosen using water as the reaction medium. The operational stability of the immobilized cells was obviously superior to that of free cells, without significant activity loss after 28 cycles of batch reaction and the successive production of R-MA could reach 1.88 M. Moreover, the immobilized cells showed good storage stability with about 52% relative activity after storing for 30 days at 4 °C. Therefore, the immobilized biocatalyst is very promising for upscale production of optically pure R-MA with high performance and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]