Productivity of Selective Electroenzymatic Reduction and Oxidation Reactions: Theoretical and Practical Considerations

The volumetric productivities, final product concentration and total process times, of electroenzymatic processes comprising reductive electrochemical cofactor regeneration coupled to dehydrogenase or oxygenase catalyzed redox reactions determine process performance. Exemplified for the production of fine chemicals, operational windows were defined to consider these parameters. This theoretical approach allows the identification of limiting process parameters and promising process developments. Several biocatalytic processes for syntheses of specialty chemicals are already in a performance range of technical relevance. Electroenzymology thus evolved to a strong additional technology in the toolbox of biocatalysis and organic chemistry.