Preparative Biotransformations: Oxidation of Alcohols.

The article gives an overview of the preparative methods for the oxidation of alcohols available for organic chemists highlighting the advantages and limitations of the bioprocesses. It outlines some of the drawbacks of alcohol oxidation at preparative scale including cofactor recycling. It cites the difference between dehydrogenases and oxidases in terms of the way cofactors are re-oxidized. Also discussed are the classes of enzymes that catalyze alcohol oxidation into aldehydes.