Enzymatic Electrosynthesis of Glycine from CO2 and NH3

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 62; no. 14; pp. e202218387 - n/a
• Main Authors: Wu, Ranran, Li, Fei, Cui, Xinyu, Li, Zehua, Ma, Chunling, Jiang, Huifeng, Zhang, Lingling, Zhang, Yi‐Heng P. Job, Zhao, Tongxin, Zhang, Yanping, Li, Yin, Chen, Hui, Zhu, Zhiguang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 27-03-2023
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia Conversion; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide fixation; Carbon sources; Cascade chemical reactions; CO2 Reduction; Electrochemistry; Enzymatic Electrosynthesis; Glycine; Multienzymatic Cascades; Nitrogen sources; Optimization; Reductive Glycine Pathway
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202218387

Enzymatic electrosynthesis has gained more and more interest as an emerging green synthesis platform, particularly for the fixation of CO2. However, the simultaneous utilization of CO2 and a nitrogenous molecule for the enzymatic electrosynthesis of value‐added products has never been reported. In this study, we constructed an in vitro multienzymatic cascade based on the reductive glycine pathway and demonstrated an enzymatic electrocatalytic system that allowed the simultaneous conversion of CO2 and NH3 as the sole carbon and nitrogen sources to synthesize glycine. Through effective coupling and the optimization of electrochemical cofactor regeneration and the multienzymatic cascade reaction, 0.81 mM glycine was yielded with a highest reaction rate of 8.69 mg L−1 h−1 and faradaic efficiency of 96.8 %. These results imply a promising alternative for enzymatic CO2 electroreduction and expand its products to nitrogenous chemicals.
An enzymatic electrocatalytic system was developed for the simultaneous conversion of CO2 and NH3 for glycine synthesis. This system was inspired by the reductive glycine pathway in vivo and involves an in vitro multienzymatic cascade reaction. It shows the potential of enzymatic CO2 electroreduction for the synthesis of nitrogenous value‐added chemicals.