2-Phenylethanol (PEA) is a commercial flavor and fragrance compound, with a rose-like odor, used in the cosmetics and food industries. Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains produce PEA in a growth-associated manner but are prone to product inhibition, resulting in low production yields. The aim of this study was to use immiscible ionic liquids (ILs) in a biphasic system to enhance the PEA concentrat...

BACKGROUND 2-phenylethanl (2-PE) and its derivatives are important chemicals, which are widely used in food materials and fine chemical industries and polymers and it's also a potentially valuable alcohol for next-generation biofuel. However, the biosynthesis of 2-PE are mainly biotransformed from phenylalanine, the price of which barred the production. Therefore, it is necessary to seek more s...

Chelating bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (bis-NHC) complexes of iron(ii) containing pyridyl ligands have been prepared by the reaction of [FeCl2L] [L = bipy (1), phen (2)] with [LiN(SiMe3)2] and a bis(imidazolium) salt. The [Fe(bis-NHC)L(I)2] complexes were active pre-catalysts in the oxidation of 1-phenylethanol with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in neat conditions, affording a quantitative yield of ac...

Olfactory sensitivity of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, to compounds isolated from the mid/hindguts of newly emerged conspecific adults was assayed with coupled gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection. All previously reported pheromones for D. frontalis plus eight additional compounds (fenchyl alcohol, myrtenal, cis-verbenol, trans-pinocarveol, acetophen...

Metabolomics represents an emerging discipline concerned with comprehensive assessment of small molecule endogenous metabolites in biological systems and provides a powerful approach insight into the mechanisms of diseases. Type 2 diabetes (T2D), called the burden of the 21st century, is growing with an epidemic rate. However, its precise molecular mechanism has not been comprehensively explore...

This thesis describes the use of rational redesign to modify the properties of the enzyme Candida antarctica lipase B. Through carefully selected single-point mutations, we were able to introduce substrate-assisted catalysis and to alter the reaction specificity. Other single-point mutations afforded variants with greatly changed substrate selectivity and enantioselectivity. Mutation of the cat...