Ionic liquids (ILs) are largely used in biocatalysis, which is the use of biological systems (purified enzymes, cell free extracts or microorganisms) to perform chemical reactions.¹ ILs have been employed as greener solvents or cosolvents of the biocatalyzed reactions, to improve the solubility of reactants or even increase the activity and/or the selectivity of the processes. It is also remarkable the role of ILs as coating reagents in the immobilization of enzymes to generate heterogeneous biocatalysts.²

Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) are attractive enzymes in organic synthesis as they can perform several oxidative processes with high regio- and/or enantioselectivity while using mild and environmentally friendly conditions.³ Indeed, purified BVMOs have been applied in the synthesis of chiral sulfoxides, ketones and esters with high selectivities. However, the main drawback with these soluble enzymes is the lack of efficient catalyst recovery strategies. By this reason, we have developed a set of novel immobilized BVMOs preparations in presence of different ionic liquids. These immobilized biocatalysts have been tested in selective sulfoxidations with the aim of analyzing the activity and selectivity of the novel enzymatic preparations as well as their performance during different reaction cycles.

1. de G. thanks MINECO (Ramón y Cajal Program) for personal funding.
2. M.K. Potdar, G.F. Kelso, L. Schwarz, C. Zhang, M.T.W. Hearn, Molecules, 2015, 20, 16788-16816.
3. Y.F. Zhang, J. Ge, Z. Liu, ACS Catal. 2015, 8, 4503-4513.
4. G. de Gonzalo, W.J.H. van Berkel, M.W. Fraaije, in Science of Synthesis, Biocatalysis Vol. 3, K. Faber, N. J. Turner, W. D. Fessner, Eds.; Georg Thieme Verlag, 2015, Chapter 4, pp. 187-234. ISBN: 978-3-13-174661-0.