Nitrile hydratase and its application to industrial production of acrylamide - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

. 1996 Sep;60(9):1391-400.

doi: 10.1271/bbb.60.1391.

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Review

Nitrile hydratase and its application to industrial production of acrylamide

H Yamada et al. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1996 Sep.

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Abstract

Nitrile hydratase (NHase) was discovered in our laboratory. This enzyme was purified and characterized from various microorganisms. NHases are roughly classified into two groups according to the metal involved: Fe-type and Co-type. NHases are expected to have great potential as catalysts in organic chemical processing because they can convert nitriles to the corresponding higher-value amides under mild conditions. We have used microbial enzymes for the production of useful compounds: NHase has been used for the industrial production (production capacity: 30,000 tons/year) of acrylamide from acrylonitrile. This is the first successful example of a biotransformation process for the manufacture of a commodity chemical. This review summarizes the history of NHase studied not only from a basic standpoint but also from an applied point of view.

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