Response surface methodology as optimization strategy for asymmetric bioreduction of acetophenone using whole cell of Lactobacillus senmaizukei

Asymmetric reduction of ketones with biocatalysts is a basic process in the synthesis of chiral organic molecules. Chiral secondary alcohols obtained by asymmetric reduction of prochial ketones are using as important chiral building blocks in various fields such as agricultural chemistry, pharmaceutical industry, sweetener synthesis, and synthesis of natural products. Applications with perform whole cell biocatalysts are one of the methods that used to reduce the prochiral ketones biocatalytically to obtain enantiomerically rich chiral secondary alcohols, which are mainly affected by the culture parameters of the biocatalyst. In this study, whole cell Lactobacillus senmaizukei biocatalyst was used as a safe Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) for asymmetric reduction of the model substrate acetophenone, and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) application was used to optimize culture parameters such as temperature, pH, incubation time and agitation rate to achieve the highest conversion and enantiomeric excess. Asymmetric reduction of acetophenone has been significantly affected by the linear and quadratic effects of culture parameters. These findings are important to demonstrate the role of culture parameters for bio-reduction reactions, as well as the effectiveness of the RSM technique to optimize these parameters. As a result of the optimized conditions obtained with RSM, asymmetric reduction of various prochiral ketones was performed.