A Brief Primer About an Up and
Coming Technology That You Simply Must Know About
Biocatalysis is a long word that perhaps you have heard, or may have pierced
your subconscious, or possibly has never made your acquaintance. Well, let me
introduce you to an important technology of the future that you really need to
know about. A good place to start is with definitions, which always help to
provide clarity about a subject.
Biocatalysis can be defined as the use of natural substances to speed up (or
catalyze) chemical reactions. The natural substances of which I speak can be one
or more enzymes or cells. An enzyme is simply a protein catalyst, and enzymes
have many important uses. Every reaction in your any living thing, yourself
included, proceeds thanks to the presence of enzymes. Enzymes help you digest
food, produce vital nutrients, move muscles, and do just about everything else
you can think of. Enzymes are also used in your daily life daily to improve the
performance of detergents ("protein gets out protein"), make beer and wine,
process food, allow diagnostic laboratories to tell you what is wrong with you,
and many other tasks that seem to happen automatically every day.
The chemical reactions that one typically thinks of as being enzyme-catalyzed
are biologically-related ones. Thus, biocatalysis includes the one-step
enzymatic conversion to produce aspartic acid (a component of the non-caloric
sweetener aspartame), the two-step oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid (vinegar
can be made this way), and the multi-step brewing of beer (quite likely the
oldest example of biocatalysis, with historical records dating back 6000
years!). But, biocatalysis can also be used to replace many traditional chemical
catalysts, including catalysts that are toxic or contain chemical residues that
pollute the environment.
The impact of biocatalysis in the future will be precisely this: the increasing
ability to use enzymes to catalyze chemical reactions in industrial processes,
including the production of drug substances, flavors, fragrances, electronic
chemicals, polymers-chemicals that literally impact almost every facet of your
life. In adopting biocatalysis as a mainstream technology for chemical
production, we will be introducing a technology that is greener, reduces
pollution and cost, and creates greater sustainability. Now that's a good reason
to get acquainted!