Synthesis of olefinic alcohols via enzymatic terminal hydroxylation

The present application is a continuation of PCT/US2015/031219, filed May 15, 2015, which application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/994,662, filed May 16, 2014; U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/060,469, filed Oct. 6, 2014; U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/062,758, filed Oct. 10, 2014; U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/082,555, filed Nov. 20, 2014; U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/096,417, filed Dec. 23, 2014; and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/096,429, filed Dec. 23, 2014; which applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Certain aspects of this invention were made with government support under award number IIP-1448692, awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government may have certain rights in the invention.

The Substitute Sequence Listing written in file SecondSubstituteSequenceListing_095864-0957387.txt created on Nov. 14, 2017, 359,804 bytes, machine format IBM-PC, MS-Windows operating system, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

Insect pheromones can be used in a variety of insect control strategies that include mating disruption and attract-and-kill, as well as mass trapping. These strategies have proven to be effective, selective (e.g., they do not harm beneficial insects, such as bees and lady bugs), and safe (e.g., the compounds are generally biodegradable and do not accumulate in the food chain). Even the very stringent USDA Organic Program lists insect pheromones as one of the few synthetic organic compounds allowed in organic crop production, another important recognition of the high safety of these products. Accordingly, pheromones already form the basis of integrated pest management (IPM) practices in fruit production on the U.S. west coast, and their use in organic farming is growing worldwide.

Despite these advantages, pheromones are not widely used today because of the high cost of about $500 to $14,000 per kg of active ingredient (AI). Even though thousands of insect pheromones have been identified, less than about twenty insect pests worldwide are currently controlled using pheromone strategies, and only 0.05% of global agricultural land employs pheromones.

Lepidopteran pheromones, which are naturally occurring compounds, or identical or substantially similar synthetic compounds, are designated by an unbranched aliphatic chain (between 9 and 18 carbons) ending in an alcohol, aldehyde, or acetate functional group and containing up to 3 double bonds in the aliphatic backbone.

The present invention provides methods by which lepidopteran insect pheromones as well as structurally related compounds are prepared using synthetic strategies that are enabled by a biocatalytic step.

In a first aspect, the invention provides a method for synthesizing an olefinic alcohol product that includes incubating an unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate to form an unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol. In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol is the olefinic alcohol product. In some embodiments, the method further includes converting the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an olefinic substrate. The olefinic substrate can be prepared via olefin metathesis and other routes including alkylation and reduction of alkynes, as well as Wittig-type reaction of aldehydes with phosphine reagents.

In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkyne. In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkenyl halide.

In a related aspect, the invention provides a method for synthesizing an olefinic alcohol product that includes incubating a saturated hydrocarbon substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the saturated hydrocarbon substrate to form a saturated hydrocarbon alcohol, and converting the saturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkane substrate. In some embodiments, the method includes incubating the alkane substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating both terminal carbons of the alkane substrate to form a terminal diol. The terminal diol can be converted to the olefinic alcohol product in one or more subsequent steps.

In some embodiments, the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkyl halide. In some embodiments, the method includes incubating the alkyl halide with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the alkyl halide to form a halogen-substituted alkanol. The halogen-substituted alkanol can be converted to the olefinic alcohol product in one or more subsequent steps.

In some embodiments, the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is a fatty acid. In some embodiments, the method includes incubating the fatty acid with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the fatty acid to form a terminal hydroxy fatty acid. The terminal hydroxy fatty acid can be converted to the olefinic alcohol product in one or more subsequent steps.

In some embodiments, the enzyme used in the methods of the invention is a non-heme diiron monooxygenase. In some embodiments, the enzyme is a long-chain alkane hydroxylase. In some embodiments, the enzyme is a cytochrome P450. In some embodiments, the cytochrome P450 is a member of the CYP52 or CYP153 family.

In certain embodiments, the olefinic alcohol product prepared according to the method of the invention is a pheromone. In particular embodiments, the pheromone is a lepidopteran insect pheromone.

In another aspect, the invention provides a whole cell catalyst comprising an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of an unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon substrate. In some embodiments, the cell is a microbial cell. In some embodiments, the enzyme is selected from the group consisting of a non-heme diiron monooxygenase, a long-chain alkane hydroxylase, a cytochrome P450, and combinations thereof.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one of skill in the art from the following detailed description and figures.

FIG. 1 shows the bioconversion reaction of (Z)-5-hexadecene using induced strain SPV048. (Z)-5-hexedecen-1-ol elutes at 11.5 min while (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol elutes at 11.6 min.

FIG. 2 shows a reaction scheme for hydroxylation of symmetric alkenes using the methods of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows a reaction scheme for hydroxylation of asymmetric alkenes using the methods of the invention.

I. Introduction

The present invention provides a method of producing terminally oxyfunctionalized alkenes and alkynes. In certain aspects, the method includes contacting an unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon substrate with a hydroxylase enzyme in the presence of molecular oxygen, reducing equivalents, and optionally redox partners under conditions sufficient to provide a terminally hydroxylated alkene or alkyne. The unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon substrates can be prepared using the methods described herein. Relevant terminal hydroxylases useful for carrying out this method exhibit strong selectivity towards the terminal carbon of an alkyl chain and include, but are not limited to, non-heme diiron alkane monooxygenases, cytochromes P450 (e.g., cytochromes P450 of the CYP52 and CYP153 family), as well as long chain alkane hydroxylases. In certain embodiments, the terminally hydroxylated alkene or alkyne is further converted to a terminal alkenal. The terminal alkenal can be obtained by chemically or enzymatically oxidizing the terminally hydroxylated alkene or alkyne. Alcohol oxidases, alcohol dehydrogenases, and alpha-dioxygenases can be used for the enzymatic oxidation. In certain embodiments, terminally hydroxylated alkenes and alkynes are useful as insect pheromones which modify insect behavior. In some embodiments, terminally hydroxylated alkenes and alkynes are useful intermediates for producing pheromones via acetylation or oxidation of the alcohol moiety.

II. Definitions

The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for the interpretation of the invention. The term “invention” or “present invention” as used herein is a non-limiting term and is not intended to refer to any single embodiment but encompasses all possible embodiments.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having, “contains,” “containing,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. A composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive “or” and not to an exclusive “or.”

The terms “about” and “around,” as used herein to modify a numerical value, indicate a close range surrounding that explicit value. If “X” were the value, “about X” or “around X” would indicate a value from 0.9X to 1.1X, and more preferably, a value from 0.95X to 1.05X. Any reference to “about X” or “around X” specifically indicates at least the values X, 0.95X, 0.96X, 0.97X, 0.98X, 0.99X, 1.01X, 1.02X, 1.03X, 1.04X, and 1.05X. Thus, “about X” and “around X” are intended to teach and provide written description support for a claim limitation of, e.g., “0.98X.”

The terms “engineered enzyme” and “enzyme variant” include any enzyme comprising at least one amino acid mutation with respect to wild-type and also include any chimeric protein comprising recombined sequences or blocks of amino acids from two, three, or more different enzymes.

The terms “engineered heme enzyme” and “heme enzyme variant” include any heme-containing enzyme comprising at least one amino acid mutation with respect to wild-type and also include any chimeric protein comprising recombined sequences or blocks of amino acids from two, three, or more different heme-containing enzymes.

The terms “engineered cytochrome P450” and “cytochrome P450 variant” include any cytochrome P450 enzyme comprising at least one amino acid mutation with respect to wild-type and also include any chimeric protein comprising recombined sequences or blocks of amino acids from two, three, or more different cytochrome P450 enzymes.

The term “whole cell catalyst” includes microbial cells expressing hydroxylase enzymes, wherein the whole cell catalyst displays hydroxylation activity.

As used herein, the term “metathesis reaction” refers to a catalytic reaction which involves the interchange of alkylidene units (i.e., R 2 C=units) among compounds containing one or more carbon-carbon double bonds (e.g., olefinic compounds) via the formation and cleavage of the carbon-carbon double bonds. Metathesis can occur between two like molecules (often referred to as self-metathesis) and/or between two different molecules (often referred to as cross-metathesis).

As used herein, the term “metathesis catalyst” refers to any catalyst or catalyst system that catalyzes a metathesis reaction. One of skill in the art will appreciate that a metathesis catalyst can participate in a metathesis reaction so as to increase the rate of the reaction, but is itself not consumed in the reaction.

As used herein, the term “metathesis product” refers to an olefin containing at least one double bond, the bond being formed via a metathesis reaction.

As used herein, the terms “microbial,” “microbial organism,” and “microorganism” include any organism that exists as a microscopic cell that is included within the domains of archaea, bacteria or eukarya. Therefore, the term is intended to encompass prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells or organisms having a microscopic size and includes bacteria, archaea, and eubacteria of all species as well as eukaryotic microorganisms such as yeast and fungi. Also included are cell cultures of any species that can be cultured for the production of a chemical.

As used herein, the term “non-naturally occurring”, when used in reference to a microbial organism or enzyme activity of the invention, is intended to mean that the microbial organism or enzyme has at least one genetic alteration not normally found in a naturally occurring strain of the referenced species, including wild-type strains of the referenced species. Genetic alterations include, for example, modifications introducing expressible nucleic acids encoding metabolic polypeptides, other nucleic acid additions, nucleic acid deletions and/or other functional disruption of the microbial organism's genetic material. Such modifications include, for example, coding regions and functional fragments thereof, for heterologous, homologous, or both heterologous and homologous polypeptides for the referenced species. Additional modifications include, for example, non-coding regulatory regions in which the modifications alter expression of a gene or operon. Exemplary non-naturally occurring microbial organism or enzyme activity includes the hydroxylation activity described above.

As used herein, the term “exogenous” is intended to mean that the referenced molecule or the referenced activity is introduced into the host microbial organism. The term as it is used in reference to expression of an encoding nucleic acid refers to the introduction of the encoding nucleic acid in an expressible form into the microbial organism. When used in reference to a biosynthetic activity, the term refers to an activity that is introduced into the host reference organism.

The term “heterologous” as used herein with reference to molecules, and in particular enzymes and polynucleotides, indicates molecules that are expressed in an organism other than the organism from which they originated or are found in nature, independently of the level of expression that can be lower, equal or higher than the level of expression of the molecule in the native microorganism.

On the other hand, the terms “native” and/or “endogenous” as used herein with reference to molecules, and in particular enzymes and polynucleotides, indicate molecules that are expressed in the organism in which they originated or are found in nature, independently of the level of expression that can be lower equal or higher than the level of expression of the molecule in the native microorganism. It is to be understood that expression of native enzymes or polynucleotides may be modified in recombinant microorganisms.

The term “homolog,” as used herein with respect to an original enzyme or gene of a first family or species, refers to distinct enzymes or genes of a second family or species which are determined by functional, structural, or genomic analyses to be an enzyme or gene of the second family or species which corresponds to the original enzyme or gene of the first family or species. Homologs most often have functional, structural, or genomic similarities. Techniques are known by which homologs of an enzyme or gene can readily be cloned using genetic probes and PCR. Identity of cloned sequences as homologs can be confirmed using functional assays and/or by genomic mapping of the genes.

A protein has “homology” or is “homologous” to a second protein if the amino acid sequence encoded by a gene has a similar amino acid sequence to that of the second gene. Alternatively, a protein has homology to a second protein if the two proteins have “similar” amino acid sequences. Thus, the term “homologous proteins” is intended to mean that the two proteins have similar amino acid sequences. In certain instances, the homology between two proteins is indicative of its shared ancestry, related by evolution.

The terms “analog” and “analogous” include nucleic acid or protein sequences or protein structures that are related to one another in function only and are not from common descent or do not share a common ancestral sequence. Analogs may differ in sequence but may share a similar structure, due to convergent evolution. For example, two enzymes are analogs or analogous if the enzymes catalyze the same reaction of conversion of a substrate to a product, are unrelated in sequence, and irrespective of whether the two enzymes are related in structure.

As used herein, the term “alkane” refers to a straight or branched, saturated, aliphatic hydrocarbon having the number of carbon atoms indicated. The term “alkyl” refers to a straight or branched, saturated, aliphatic radical having the number of carbon atoms indicated. Alkyl can include any number of carbons, such as C 1-2 , C 1-3 , C 1-4 , C 1-5 , C 1-6 , C 1-7 , C 1-8 , C 2-3 , C 2-4 , C 2-5 , C 2-6 , C 3-4 , C 3-5 , C 3-6 , C 4-5 , C 4-6 and C 5-6 . For example, C 1-6 alkyl includes, but is not limited to, methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, pentyl, isopentyl, hexyl, etc. Alkyl can refer to alkyl groups having up to 20 carbons atoms, such as, but not limited to heptyl, octyl, nonyl, decyl, etc. Alkanes and alkyl groups can be optionally substituted with one or more moieties selected from halo, alkenyl, and alkynyl.

As used herein, the term “alkene” refers to a straight chain or branched hydrocarbon having at least 2 carbon atoms and at least one double bond. A “terminal” alkene refers to an alkene wherein the double bond is between two carbon atoms at the end of the hydrocarbon chain (e.g., hex-1-ene). An “internal” alkene refers to an alkene wherein the double bond is between two carbon atoms that are not at the end of the hydrocarbon chain (e.g., (E)-hex-3-ene and (Z)-hex-3-ene). An “α,ω-alkenol” refers to a hydroxy-substituted terminal alkene having the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m OH, wherein m is an integer ranging from 1-30, such as 2-18. The term “alkenyl” refers to a straight chain or branched hydrocarbon radical having at least 2 carbon atoms and at least one double bond. Alkenyl can include any number of carbons, such as C 2 , C 2-3 , C 2-4 , C 2-5 , C 2-6 , C 2-7 , C 2-8 , C 2-9 , C 2-10 , C 3 , C 3-4 , C 3-5 , C 3-6 , C 4 , C 4-5 , C 4-6 , C 5 , C 5-6 , and C 6 . Alkenyl groups can have any suitable number of double bonds, including, but not limited to, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more. Examples of alkenyl groups include, but are not limited to, vinyl (ethenyl), propenyl, isopropenyl, 1-butenyl, 2-butenyl, isobutenyl, butadienyl, 1-pentenyl, 2-pentenyl, isopentenyl, 1,3-pentadienyl, 1,4-pentadienyl, 1-hexenyl, 2-hexenyl, 3-hexenyl, 1,3-hexadienyl, 1,4-hexadienyl, 1,5-hexadienyl, 2,4-hexadienyl, or 1,3,5-hexatrienyl. Alkenes and alkenyl groups can be optionally substituted with one or more moieties selected from halo, alkyl, and alkynyl.

As used herein, the term “selective” refers to preferential reaction of one site on a chemical compound over another site on the compound. As a non-limiting example, selectively hydroxylating hept-3-ene (an asymmetric alkene) refers to preferentially hydroxylating one end of the hept-3-ene to form more hept-3-en-1-ol than hept-4-en-1-ol (or forming exclusively hept-3-en-1-ol without forming hept-4-en-1-ol). Selectively hydroxylating the other end of hept-3-ene would result in the formation of more hept-4-en-1-ol than hept-3-en-1-ol (or the exclusive formation of hept-4-en-1-ol without formation of hept-3-en-1-ol).

As used herein, the term “alkyne” refers to either a straight chain or branched hydrocarbon having at least 2 carbon atoms and at least one triple bond. A “terminal” alkyne refers to an alkyne wherein the triple bond is between two carbon atoms at the end of the hydrocarbon chain (e.g., hex-1-yne). An “internal” alkyne refers to an alkyne wherein the triple bond is between two carbon atoms that are not at the end of the hydrocarbon chain (e.g., hex-3-yne). The term “alkynyl” refers to either a straight chain or branched hydrocarbon radical having at least 2 carbon atoms and at least one triple bond. Alkynyl can include any number of carbons, such as C 2 , C 2-3 , C 2-4 , C 2-5 , C 2-6 , C 2-7 , C 2-8 , C 2-9 , C 2-10 , C 3 , C 3-4 , C 3-5 , C 3-6 , C 4 , C 4-5 , C 4-6 , C 5 , C 5-6 , and C 6 . Examples of alkynyl groups include, but are not limited to, acetylenyl, propynyl, 1-butynyl, 2-butynyl, isobutynyl, sec-butynyl, butadiynyl, 1-pentynyl, 2-pentynyl, isopentynyl, 1,3-pentadiynyl, 1,4-pentadiynyl, 1-hexynyl, 2-hexynyl, 3-hexynyl, 1,3-hexadiynyl, 1,4-hexadiynyl, 1,5-hexadiynyl, 2,4-hexadiynyl, or 1,3,5-hexatriynyl. Alkynes and alkynyl groups can be optionally substituted with one or more moieties selected from halo, alkyl, and alkenyl.

As used herein, the term “aryl” refers to an aromatic carbon ring system having any suitable number of ring atoms and any suitable number of rings. Aryl groups can include any suitable number of carbon ring atoms, such as, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16 ring atoms, as well as from 6 to 10, 6 to 12, or 6 to 14 ring members. Aryl groups can be monocyclic, fused to form bicyclic or tricyclic groups, or linked by a bond to form a biaryl group. Representative aryl groups include phenyl, naphthyl and biphenyl. Other aryl groups include benzyl, having a methylene linking group. Some aryl groups have from 6 to 12 ring members, such as phenyl, naphthyl or biphenyl. Other aryl groups have from 6 to 10 ring members, such as phenyl or naphthyl. Some other aryl groups have 6 ring members, such as phenyl. Aryl groups can be optionally substituted with one or more moieties selected from halo, hydroxy, amino, alkylamino, alkoxy, haloalkyl, carboxy, amido, nitro, oxo, and cyano.

As used herein, the terms “halo” and “halogen” refer to fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine.

As used herein, the term “carboxy” refers to a moiety —C(O)OH. The carboxy moiety can be ionized to form the carboxylate anion.

As used herein, the term “hydroxy” refers to a moiety —OH.

As used herein, the term “amino” refers to a moiety —NR 3 , wherein each R group is H or alkyl. An amino moiety can be ionized to form the corresponding ammonium cation.

As used herein, the term “amido” refers to a moiety —NRC(O)R or —C(O)NR 2 , wherein each R group is H or alkyl.

As used herein, the term “nitro” refers to the moiety —NO 2 .

As used herein, the term “oxo” refers to an oxygen atom that is double-bonded to a compound (i.e., O═).

As used herein, the term “cyano” refers to the moiety —CN.

III. Description of the Embodiments

Traditionally, straight chain monoene alcohols, acetates, and aldehydes are synthesized via multi-step syntheses. Scheme 1 represents an example of such synthesis.

The present disclosure describes several methods for the synthesis of terminally oxyfunctionalized alkenes. Said methods are described in detail below and are generally applicable to the synthesis of various compounds, including but not limited to those shown in Table 1.

Some embodiments of the invention provide methods for synthesizing olefinic alcohol products wherein the olefinic alcohol product is a pheromone. In some embodiments, the olefinic alcohol product is selected from the alcohols in Table 1. Pheromones containing aldehyde functional groups can also be prepared using the olefinic alcohol products as intermediates. In such cases, the methods of the invention generally include oxidizing the olefinic alcohol product to form an olefinic aldehyde product. In some of these embodiments, the olefinic aldehyde product is selected from the aldehydes in Table 1.

Pheromones containing ester functional groups can also be prepared using the olefinic alcohol products as intermediates. In such cases, the methods of the invention generally include esterifying the olefinic alcohol product to form an olefinic ester product. In some embodiments, the olefinic ester product is an acetate ester. In some embodiments, the olefinic ester product is selected from the esters in Table 1.

Useful unsaturated fatty acids and related compounds can also be prepared using the olefinic alcohol products as intermediates. In such cases, the methods of the invention generally include oxidizing the olefinic alcohol product to form an olefinic acid product.

The synthetic strategies disclosed herein chiefly rely on the ability of hydroxylases to terminally hydroxylate hydrocarbon substrates such as linear alkenes. Linear alkenes and other hydrocarbon substrates can be synthesized via any route, including but not limited to olefin metathesis, Wittig olefination, or alkyne substitution followed by partial hydrogenation. The hydroxylation products can further be modified via any method, including—but not limited to—oxidation, esterification, and olefin metathesis, to produce the desired end products (Scheme 2). Deviations from this general scheme are also disclosed.

Synthesis of Terminal Alkenols Via Metathesis and Hydroxylation

In a first aspect, the invention provides a method for synthesizing an olefinic alcohol product that includes incubating an unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate to form an unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol. In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol is the olefinic alcohol product. In some embodiments, the method further includes converting the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product. In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an olefinic substrate. In some embodiments, the olefinic substrate is a metathesis product.

Hydroxylation of Symmetric Alkenes

In some embodiments, the method for synthesizing an oxyfunctionalized alkene includes a combination of metathesis and terminal hydroxylation as shown in Scheme 3.

According to Scheme 3, an E-selective metathesis catalyst or a Z-selective metathesis catalyst is used to convert a linear, terminal alkene of chain length m to the respective linear symmetric alkene. Following the metathesis step, a terminal hydroxylation biocatalyst is used to convert the symmetric alkene to the terminal alkenol. Optionally, this scheme can be expanded by an additional metathesis step that replaces the non-hydroxylated end of the terminal alkenol with one of another chain length (Scheme 4a).

In some instances, Scheme 4a can be further modified to protect the alcohol prior to metathesis. For example, the alcohol can be esterified prior to the metathesis step (Scheme 4b). The esterification is typically performed with formate or acetate, resulting in R═H or CH 3 , respectively. The ester intermediates or final products can be hydrolysed to yield alcohol products.

The methods can be conducted with alkenes of any suitable length, which will depend on factors such as the desired olefinic alcohol product and the enzyme used in the biohydroxylation step. In some embodiments, the olefinic alcohol product is a C4-C20 olefinic alcohol product. The olefinic alcohol can contain, for example, 4-20 carbon atoms, or 8-20 carbon atoms, or 12-20 carbon atoms, or 16-20 carbon atoms. In such embodiments, the sum of the subscripts m, n, and y shown in Scheme 3 and Scheme 4 will bring the total number of carbon atoms in a particular olefinic alcohol product to 4-20, when added to the number of the non-subscripted carbon atoms shown in the structure for the olefinic alcohol product. In such embodiments, for example, subscript m in Scheme 3 can be an integer from 0-8, bringing the total number of the carbons in the symmetric olefinic substrate to 4-20. When m is 3, the route depicted in Scheme 3 provides (E/Z)-5-decen-1-ol.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide methods for preparing an olefinic alcohol product as described above, wherein the olefinic substrate is a metathesis product, and wherein the method includes: a) self-metathesizing a terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form the metathesis product; and b) incubating the metathesis product with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the metathesis product to form an olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m H, the metathesis product has the formula H(CH 2 ) m (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) m H, the olefinic alcohol product has the formula H(CH 2 ) m (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) m OH, and m is selected from an integer between 1 and 17. In some embodiments, m is selected from an integer between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, for example, m is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. It is to be understood that any range disclosed in the present specification and recited in the claims includes the endpoints the endpoints of the range, unless explicitly stated otherwise. As a non-limiting example, integers in the range “between 1 and 17” include 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

Hydroxylation of Asymmetric Alkenes

In some embodiments, the method for synthesizing an oxyfunctionalized alkene includes a combination of metathesis and terminal hydroxylation as shown in Scheme 5. In this process, terminal alkenes of different lengths are combined to generate asymmetric alkenes, which are then subjected to biohydroxylation conditions to afford the desired alkenol products.

Methods including hydroxylation of asymmetric alkenes can be conducted with alkenes of any suitable length. In some embodiments, the asymmetric olefinic alcohol product is a C4-C30 olefinic alcohol product. In such embodiments, the sum of the subscripts m and n shown in Scheme 5 will bring the total number of carbon atoms in a particular asymmetric olefinic alcohol product to 4-30, when added to the number of the non-subscripted carbon atoms shown in the structure for the asymmetric olefinic alcohol product. In such embodiments, for example, subscript m in Scheme 5 can be an integer from 8-18 and subscript n in Scheme 5 can be a different integer from 0-8, bringing the total number of the carbons in the asymmetric olefinic substrate to 4-30. When m is 9 and n is 3, the route depicted in Scheme 5 provides (E/Z)-hexadec-11-en-1-ol as the target product. In some embodiments, the asymmetric olefinic alcohol product is a C4-C20 olefinic alcohol product. The asymmetric olefinic alcohol can contain, for example, 4-20 carbon atoms, or 8-20 carbon atoms, or 12-20 carbon atoms, or 16-20 carbon atoms.

In some embodiments, for example, m is 0 and n is 4; or m is 1 and n is 3; or m is 3 and n is 1; or m is 4 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 5; or m is 1 and n is 4; or m is 2 and n is 3; or m is 3 and n is 2; or m is 4 and n is 1; or m is 5 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 6; or m is 1 and n is 5; or m is 2 and n is 4; or m is 4 and n is 2; or m is 5 and n is 1; or m is 6 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 7; or m is 1 and n is 6; or m is 2 and n is 5; or m is 3 and n is 4; or m is 4 and n is 3; or m is 5 and n is 2; or m is 6 and n is 1; or m is 7 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 8; or m is 1 and n is 7; or m is 2 and n is 6; or m is 3 and n is 5; or m is 5 and n is 3; or m is 6 and n is 2; or m is 7 and n is 1; or m is 8 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 9; or m is 1 and n is 8; or m is 2 and n is 7; or m is 3 and n is 6; or m is 4 and n is 5; or m is 5 and n is 4; or m is 6 and n is 3; or m is 7 and n is 2; or m is 8 and n is 1; or m is 9 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 10; or m is 1 and n is 9; or m is 2 and n is 8; or m is 3 and n is 7; or m is 4 and n is 6; or m is 6 and n is 4; or m is 7 and n is 3; or m is 8 and n is 2; or m is 9 and n is 1; or m is 10 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 11; or m is 1 and n is 10; or m is 2 and n is 9; or m is 3 and n is 8; or m is 4 and n is 7; or m is 5 and n is 6; or m is 6 and n is 5; or m is 7 and n is 4; or m is 8 and n is 3; or m is 9 and n is 2; or m is 10 and n is 1; or m is 11 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 12; or m is 1 and n is 11; or m is 2 and n is 10; or m is 3 and n is 9; or m is 4 and n is 8; or m is 5 and n is 7; or m is 7 and n is 5; or m is 8 and n is 4; or m is 9 and n is 3; or m is 10 and n is 2; or m is 11 and n is 1; or m is 12 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 13; or m is 1 and n is 12; or m is 2 and n is 11; or m is 3 and n is 10; or m is 4 and n is 9; or m is 5 and n is 8; or m is 6 and n is 7; or m is 7 and n is 6; or m is 8 and n is 5; or m is 9 and n is 4; or m is 10 and n is 3; or m is 11 and n is 2; or m is 12 and n is 1; or m is 13 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 14; or m is 1 and n is 13; or m is 2 and n is 12; or m is 3 and n is 11; or m is 4 and n is 10; or m is 5 and n is 9; or m is 6 and n is 8; or m is 8 and n is 6; or m is 9 and n is 5; or m is 10 and n is 4; or m is 11 and n is 3; or m is 12 and n is 2; or m is 13 and n is 1; or m is 14 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 15; or m is 1 and n is 14; or m is 2 and n is 13; or m is 3 and n is 12; or m is 4 and n is 11; or m is 5 and n is 10; or m is 6 and n is 9; or m is 7 and n is 8; or m is 8 and n is 7; or m is 9 and n is 6; or m is 10 and n is 5; or m is 11 and n is 4; or m is 12 and n is 3; or m is 13 and n is 2; or m is 14 and n is 1; or m is 15 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 16; or m is 1 and n is 15; or m is 2 and n is 14; or m is 3 and n is 13; or m is 4 and n is 12; or m is 5 and n is 11; or m is 6 and n is 10; or m is 7 and n is 9; or m is 9 and n is 7; or m is 10 and n is 6; or m is 11 and n is 5; or m is 12 and n is 4; or m is 13 and n is 3; or m is 14 and n is 2; or m is 15 and n is 1; or m is 16 and n is 0; or m is 1 and n is 16; or m is 2 and n is 15; or m is 3 and n is 14; or m is 4 and n is 13; or m is 5 and n is 12; or m is 6 and n is 11; or m is 7 and n is 10; or m is 8 and n is 9; or m is 9 and n is 8; or m is 10 and n is 7; or m is 11 and n is 6; or m is 12 and n is 5; or m is 13 and n is 4; or m is 14 and n is 3; or m is 15 and n is 2; or m is 16 and n is 1; or m is 17 and n is 0; or m is 0 and n is 17; or m is 1 and n is 17; or m is 2 and n is 16; or m is 3 and n is 15; or m is 4 and n is 14; or m is 5 and n is 13; or m is 6 and n is 12; or m is 7 and n is 11; or m is 8 and n is 10; or m is 10 and n is 8; or m is 11 and n is 7; or m is 12 and n is 6; or m is 13 and n is 5; or m is 14 and n is 4; or m is 15 and n is 3; or m is 16 and n is 2; or m is 17 and n is 1; or m is 18 and n is 0.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide methods for preparing an olefinic alcohol product as described above, wherein the olefinic substrate is a metathesis product, and wherein the method includes: a) cross-metathesizing a first terminal olefin and a second different terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form the metathesis product; and b) incubating the metathesis product with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the metathesis product to form an olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the first terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m H, the second different terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) n H, the metathesis product has the formula H(CH 2 ) m (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) n H, the olefinic alcohol product has the formula H(CH 2 ) m (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) n OH, and m and n are different integers between 1 and 17. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

The methods of the invention can also be conducted such that the biohydroxylation step is conducted prior to the metathesis step and/or other synthetic transformation steps. Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide methods wherein the olefinic substrate is a first terminal olefin, and wherein the method includes: a) incubating the first terminal olefin with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the terminal olefin to form an α,ω-alkenol; and b) metathesizing the α,ω-alkenol and a second terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form the olefinic alcohol product.

The alcohol can be protected with a suitable protecting group if necessary. In some embodiments, the methods of the invention include: a) incubating the first terminal olefin with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the terminal olefin to form an α,ω-alkenol; b) protecting the α,ω-alkenol to form a protected α,ω-alkenol; c) metathesizing the protected α,ω-alkenol and a second terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form a protected olefinic alcohol product; and d) deprotecting the protected olefinic alcohol product to form the olefinic alcohol product.

Any suitable alcohol protecting group can be used in the methods of the invention. Such protecting groups are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art, including those that are disclosed in Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis, 4th edition, T. W. Greene and P. G. M. Wuts, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification and the protected olefinic alcohol product is deprotected via hydrolysis. In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification with an acid selected from the group consisting of formate and acetate.

Any suitable olefinic substrate can be used in methods where the biohydroxylation step is conducted prior to the metathesis step and/or other synthetic transformation steps. In some embodiments, the first terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m H, the α,ω-alkenol has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m OH, the second terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) n H, the olefinic alcohol product has the formula H(CH 2 ) n (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) m OH, and m and n are each independently selected from an integer between 1 and 17. In some embodiments, m and n are each independently selected from an integer between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Alkanes to Terminal Diols Followed by Monodehydration and Metathesis

Saturated hydrocarbon substrates can also be used in the methods of the invention. Accordingly, another aspect of the invention provides a method for synthesizing an olefinic alcohol product that includes: incubating a saturated hydrocarbon substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the saturated hydrocarbon substrate to form a saturated hydrocarbon alcohol; and converting the saturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 6a.

In this synthesis scheme, the terminal hydroxylation occurs on both ends of a linear alkane, resulting in a diol. The diol is then selectively monodehydrated through various chemical processes, including but not limited to those described in the literature (Sato et al., 2013) to generate a terminal alkenol. Coupling of the terminal alkenol with other alkenes via an olefin metathesis process allows for the synthesis of various pheromones.

In some instances, Scheme 6a can be further modified to protect the alcohol prior to metathesis. For example, the alcohol can be esterified prior to the metathesis step (Scheme 6b). The esterification is typically performed with formate or acetate, resulting in R═H or CH 3 , respectively. The ester intermediates or final products can be hydrolysed to yield the alcohol products.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkane substrate, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating an alkane substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating both terminal carbons of the alkane substrate to form a terminal diol; b) selectively dehydrating one of the terminal hydroxyl groups of the terminal diol to form an α,ω-alkenol; and c) metathesizing the α,ω-alkenol and a terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form the olefinic alcohol product.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkane substrate, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating an alkane substrate with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating both terminal carbons of the alkane substrate to form a terminal diol; b) selectively dehydrating one of the terminal hydroxyl groups of the terminal diol to form an α,ω-alkenol; c) protecting the α,ω-alkenol to form a protected α,ω-alkenol; d) metathesizing the protected α,ω-alkenol and a terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form a protected olefinic alcohol product; and e) deprotecting the protected olefinic alcohol product to form the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification and the protected olefinic alcohol product is deprotected via hydrolysis. In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification with an acid selected from the group consisting of formate and acetate.

In some embodiments, the alkane substrate has the formula H(CH 2 ) m H, the terminal diol has the formula HO(CH 2 ) m OH, the α,ω-alkenol has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m-2 OH, the terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH) (CH 2 ) n H, the olefinic alcohol product has the formula H(CH 2 ) n (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) m-2 OH, m is an integer between 3 and 17, and n is an integer between 1 and 17. The alkane substrate, the terminal diol, the α,ω-alkenol, the terminal olefin, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Terminal Alkenes

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 7a.

In a particular embodiment, the hydroxylase enzyme favors hydroxylation of the terminal CH 3 group over epoxidation of the C═C double bond.

In some instances, Scheme 7a can be further modified to protect the alcohol prior to metathesis. For example, the alcohol can be esterified prior to the metathesis step (Scheme 7b). The esterification is typically performed with formate or acetate, resulting in R═H or CH 3 , respectively. The ester intermediates or final products can be hydrolysed to yield alcohol products.

The alkenes and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Fatty Acids

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 8a. In this Scheme, a terminal olefin forming fatty acid decarboxylase is used to convert a ω-hydroxy fatty acid into a fatty alkene.

In some instances, Scheme 8a can be further modified to protect the alcohol prior to metathesis. For example, the alcohol can be esterified prior to the metathesis step (Scheme 8b). The esterification is typically performed with formate or acetate, resulting in R═H or CH 3 , respectively. The ester intermediates or final products can be hydrolysed to yield alcohol products.

The fatty acid substrate, the terminal hydroxy fatty acid, the alkenes, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Alternative Synthesis of Terminal Alkenols Via Hydroxylation

Hydroxylation of Symmetric or Asymmetric Alkenes

In some embodiments, symmetric or asymmetric alkenes are hydroxylated according to Schemes 3 and 4, respectively to produce symmetric or asymmetric alkenols. However, in this embodiment, the alkene is produced according to Scheme 9 (see, Oprean et al. (2006) for the acetylation step and Buck and Chong (2001) for the alkyne alkylation step), Scheme 10 (see, Buck and Chong (2001) regarding the alkyne alkylation step), Scheme 11a, or Scheme 11b. Scheme 11b shows Wittig reaction conditions that favor the formation of the Z-isomer according to Smith et al. (2000).

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method for synthesizing an olefinic alcohol product wherein the method includes:

a) forming a reaction mixture comprising a terminal alkyne according to formula I

b) reducing the disubstituted alkyne to form an olefin according to formula IVa or IVb

and

c) incubating the olefin with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the olefin to form the olefinic alcohol product.

The terminal alkyne, the alkyl halide, the disubstituted alkyne, the olefin, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

In some embodiments, the invention includes:

a) forming a reaction mixture comprising a phosphonium salt according to formula XVI

wherein

each R is independently selected from C 1-6 alkyl and C 6-10 aryl, X is a halogen, and n is an integer from 0 to 16,

and an aldehyde according to formula XVII

wherein m is an integer from 0 to 16,

under conditions sufficient to form an olefin according to formula XVIIIa or formula XVIIIb

and

b) incubating the olefin with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the olefin to form the olefinic alcohol product.

The phosphonium salt, the aldehyde, the olefin, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Enzymatic or Other Oxidation of Diol to Aldehyde Followed by Wittig

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 12a. In certain embodiments, the Wittig reaction favors formation of the Z-olefin (Scheme 12b; see, Smith et al. 2000).

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide methods that include:

a) incubating an alkane according to formula XIX

each R is independently selected from C 1-6 alkyl and C 6-10 aryl, X is a halogen, and n is an integer from 0 to 16,

under conditions sufficient to form an olefinic alcohol product according to formula XXIIIa or formula XXIIIb

The alkane, the diol, the aldehyde, the phosphonium salt, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Terminal Alkynes

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized by first hydroxylating terminal alkynes to their corresponding alkynols. Upon protection of the hydroxyl functional group, the alkynols can be further functionalized by alkylation with other haloalkanes to generate disubstituted alkynols and partial hydrogenation to afford the desired alkene products, as shown in Scheme 13.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the hydrocarbon substrate is an alkyne and the method includes:

a) incubating a terminal alkyne according to formula V

wherein m is an integer from 0 to 16,

with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the terminal alkyne to form an unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula VI

b) forming a reaction mixture comprising the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol and an alkyl halide according to formula VII

wherein X is a halogen and n is an integer from 0 to 16,

under conditions sufficient to form a disubstituted alkyne according to formula VIII

and

c) reducing the disubstituted alkyne to form an olefinic alcohol product according to formula IXa or IXb

In some embodiments, the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula VI is protected, and then the resulting protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol is combined with an alkyl halide according to formula VII under conditions sufficient to form a protected disubstituted alkyne. The protected disubstituted alkyne can be reduced and deprotected to provide an olefinic alcohol product according to formula IXa or IXb.

The terminal alkyne, the unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, the alkyl halide, the disubstituted alkyne, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Halogenated Alkanes

In some embodiments, terminal halogenated alkanes can be biohydroxylated to generate α,ω-halogenated alcohols. Upon protection of the alcohol moiety, the substrate can be coupled with a terminal alkyne to afford an internal alkyne product, which can be partially reduced via known chemical processes to generate either the cis- or trans-alkenes that can be readily converted to insect pheromones, as illustrated in Scheme 14.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkyl halide, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating an alkyl halide according to formula X

wherein X is a halogen and n is an integer from 0 to 16,

with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the alkyl halide to form a halogen-substituted alkanol according to formula XI

b) converting the halogen-substituted alkanol to a protected halogen-substituted alkanol according to formula XII

wherein R is a protecting group;

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the protected halogen-substituted alkanol and a terminal alkyne according to formula XIII

wherein m is an integer from 0 to 16,

under conditions sufficient to form a disubstituted alkyne according to formula XIV

d) reducing the disubstituted alkyne to form a protected olefinic alcohol according to formula XVa or formula XVb

and

e) converting the protected olefinic alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

The alkyl halide, the halogen-substituted alkanol, the protected halogen-substituted alkanol, the terminal alkyne, the disubstituted alkyne, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Halogenated Alkenes

In some embodiments, halogenated alkenes can be biohydroxylated to generate corresponding alkenols. Upon protection of the alcohol moiety, the substrate is then coupled with haloalkanes, alkenes, or alkynes to provide suitable intermediates for synthesis of insect pheromones as illustrated in Scheme 15 below.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkenyl halide, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating an alkenyl halide according to formula X′

wherein X is a halogen,

a and c are independently integers from 1 to 15, and

b is an integer from 1 to 3,

with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the alkenyl halide to form a halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XI′

b) converting the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to a protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XII′

wherein R is a protecting group;

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol and a reactant according to formula XIIa′

wherein Y is a halogen and

d is an interger from 0 to 15

under conditions sufficient to form an elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XIIb′

and

d) converting the elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

Dehydration of Diols to Alkyne Followed by Alkyne Substitution and Reduction

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 16.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method which includes:

a) incubating an alkane according to formula XXIX

wherein m is an integer from 0 to 16,

with an enzyme capable of hydroxylating the terminal carbons of the alkane to form a diol according to formula XXX

b) converting the diol to an alkyne according to formula XXXI

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the alkyne and an alkyl halide according to formula XXXII

wherein

X is a halogen and n is an integer from 0 to 15,

under conditions sufficient to form a disubstituted alkyne according to formula XXXIII

and

d) reducing the disubstituted alkyne to form an olefinic alcohol product according to formula XXXIVa or formula XXXIVb

The alkane, the diol, the alkyne, the alkyl halide, the disubstituted alkyne, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Hydroxylation of Fatty Acids Followed by a Reduction and Wittig Olefination

In some embodiments, terminal alkenols are synthesized according to Scheme 17a. Under certain conditions, the Wittig reaction favors the formation of the Z-isomer (Scheme 17b; see, Smith et al. 2000).

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is a fatty acid, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating a fatty acid with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the fatty acid to form a terminal hydroxy fatty acid; b) selectively decarbonylating the carboxyl group of the terminal hydroxy fatty acid to form an α,ω-alkenol; and c) metathesizing the α,ω-alkenol and a terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is a fatty acid, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating a fatty acid with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the fatty acid to form a terminal hydroxy fatty acid; b) selectively decarbonylating the carboxyl group of the terminal hydroxy fatty acid to form an α,ω-alkenol; c) protecting the α,ω-alkenol to form a protected α,ω-alkenol; d) metathesizing the protected α,ω-alkenol and a terminal olefin in the presence of a metathesis catalyst to form a protected olefinic alcohol product; and e) deprotecting the protected olefinic alcohol product to form the olefinic alcohol product.

In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification and the protected olefinic alcohol product is deprotected via hydrolysis. In some embodiments, the α,ω-alkenol is protected via esterification with an acid selected from the group consisting of formate and acetate.

In some embodiments wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is a fatty acid, the fatty acid has the formula H(CH 2 ) m CO 2 H, the terminal hydroxy fatty acid has the formula HO(CH 2 ) m CO 2 H, the α,ω-alkenol has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) m-2 OH, the terminal olefin has the formula (CH 2 ═CH)(CH 2 ) n H, the olefinic alcohol product has the formula H(CH 2 ) n (CH═CH)(CH 2 ) m-2 OH, and m and n are each independently selected from an integer between 3 and 17.

The fatty acid, the terminal hydroxy fatty acid, the α,ω-alkenol, the terminal olefin, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a method wherein the saturated hydrocarbon substrate is a fatty acid, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating a fatty acid according to formula XXIV

wherein m is an integer from 0 to 14,

with an enzyme capable of hydroxylating the terminal carbon of the fatty acid to form a terminal hydroxy fatty acid according to formula XXV

b) reducing the terminal hydroxy fatty acid to form an aldehyde according to formula XXVI

and

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the aldehyde and a phosphonium salt according to formula XXVII

wherein

each R is independently selected from C 1-6 alkyl and C 6-10 aryl, X is a halogen, and n is an integer from 0 to 14,

under conditions sufficient to form an olefinic alcohol product according to formula XXVIIIa or formula XXVIIIb

The alkane, fatty acid, the terminal hydroxy fatty acid, the aldehyde, the phosponium salt, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts m and n, as described above. In some embodiments, m and n are independently selected integers between 1 and 9. In some embodiments, m and n are different integers between 1 and 9.

Synthesis of Oxyfunctionalized Olefins Comprising More than One C═C Double Bond

Hydroxylation of Conjugated and Unconjugated Alkenes

In some embodiments, conjugated and unconjugated alkenes can be biohydroxylated to generate corresponding conjugated and unconjugated alkenols. The resulting products are then coupled with haloalkanes, haloalkenes, or alkynes to provide suitable intermediates for synthesis of insect pheromones as illustrated in Scheme 18 below.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method wherein the unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is an alkenyl halide, and wherein the method includes:

a) incubating an alkenyl halide according to formula X″

wherein X a halogen,

a, c, and e are independently integers from 0 to 15, and

b and d are independently integers from 0 to 2, provided that at least one of b and d is other than 0,

with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the alkene to form a halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XI″

b) converting the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to a protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XII″

wherein R is a protecting group;

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol and an alkyl halide according to formula XIIa″

wherein Y is a halogen and

f is an integer from 0 to 15

under conditions sufficient to form an elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XIIb″

and

d) converting the elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

The alkenyl halide, the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, the protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, the alkyl halide according to formula XIIa″, the elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts a, b, c, d, e, and f. In some embodiments, a, b, c, d, e, and f are integers independently selected from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. In some embodiments, the sum of a, b, c, d, e, and f is an integer from 1 to 14. In some embodiments, the sum of a, b, c, d, e, and f is an integer from 1 to 8.

Hydroxylation of Conjugated and Unconjugated Alkene-Alkynes

In some embodiments, conjugated and unconjugated alkene-alkyne bi-functional substrates can be biohydroxylated to generate alkene-alkynols. The resulting biohydroxylation products can then be used for coupling with haloalkanes, alkenes, or alkynes to provide suitable intermediates for synthesis of insect pheromones as illustrated in Scheme 19 below.

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide a method which includes:

a) incubating an unsaturated halogen-substituted hydrocarbon according to formula X′″

wherein X is a halogen,

a, c, and e are independently integers from 0 to 30, and

b and d are independently integers from 1 to 2, provided that at least one of b and d is other than 0,

with an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon to form a halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XI′″

b) converting the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to a protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XII′″

wherein R is a protecting group;

c) forming a reaction mixture comprising the protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol and an alkyl halide according to formula XIIa′″

wherein Y is a halogen and

f is an interger from 0 to 15

under conditions sufficient to form an elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol according to formula XIIb′″

and

d) converting the elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol to the olefinic alcohol product.

The unsaturated halogen-substituted hydrocarbon, the halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, the protected halogen-substituted unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, the alkyl halide according to formula XIIa′″, the elongated protected unsaturated hydrocarbon alcohol, and the olefinic alcohol product can have any suitable combination of subscripts a, b, c, d, e, and f. In some embodiments, a, b, c, d, e, and f are integers independently selected from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. In some embodiments, the sum of a, b, c, d, e, and f is an integer from 1 to 14. In some embodiments, the sum of a, b, c, d, e, and f is an integer from 1 to 8.

Metathesis Catalysts

In general, any metathesis catalyst stable under the reaction conditions and nonreactive with the functional groups present on the reactant shown in Schemes 3 through 8 may be used with the present invention. Such catalysts are, for example, those described by Grubbs (Grubbs, R. H.,” Synthesis of large and small molecules using olefin metathesis catalysts.” PMSE Prepr., 2012), herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Depending on the desired isomer of the olefin, as cis-selective metathesis catalyst may be used, for example one of those described by Shahane et al. (Shahane, S., et al. Chem Cat Chem, 2013. 5(12): p. 3436-3459), herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Specific catalysts 1-5 exhibiting cis-selectivity are shown below (Scheme 19a) and have been described previously (Khan, R. K., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013. 135(28): p. 10258-61; Hartung, J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013. 135(28): p. 10183-5.; Rosebrugh, L. E., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013. 135(4): p. 1276-9.; Marx, V. M., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013. 135(1): p. 94-7.; Herbert, M. B., et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2013. 52(1): p. 310-4; Keitz, B. K., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012. 134(4): p. 2040-3.; Keitz, B. K., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012. 134(1): p. 693-9.; Endo, K. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011. 133(22): p. 8525-7).

Additional Z-selective catalysts are described in (Cannon and Grubbs 2013; Bronner et al. 2014; Hartung et al. 2014; Pribisko et al. 2014; Quigley and Grubbs 2014) and are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Due to their excellent stability and functional group tolerance, preferred metathesis catalysts include, but are not limited to, neutral ruthenium or osmium metal carbene complexes that possess metal centers that are formally in the +2 oxidation state, have an electron count of 16, are penta-coordinated, and are of the general formula LL′AA′M=CRbRc or LL′AA′M=(C═)nCRbRc (Pederson and Grubbs 2002); wherein

M is ruthenium or osmium; L and L′ are each independently any neutral electron donor ligand and preferably selected from phosphine, sulfonated phosphine, phosphite, phosphinite, phosphonite, arsine, stibnite, ether, amine, amide, imine, sulfoxide, carboxyl, nitrosyl, pyridine, thioether, or heterocyclic carbenes; and A and A′ are anionic ligands independently selected from halogen, hydrogen, C 1 -C 20 alkyl, aryl, C 1 -C 20 alkoxide, aryloxide, C 2 -C 20 alkoxycarbonyl, arylcarboxylate, C 1 -C 20 carboxylate, arylsulfonyl, C 1 -C 20 alkylsulfonyl, C 1 -C 20 alkylsulfinyl; each ligand optionally being substituted with C 1 -C 5 alkyl, halogen, C 1 -C 5 alkoxy; or with a phenyl group that is optionally substituted with halogen, C 1 -C 5 alkyl, or C 1 -C 5 alkoxy; and A and A′ together may optionally comprise a bidentate ligand; and R b and R c are independently selected from hydrogen, C 1 -C 20 alkyl, aryl, C 1 -C 20 carboxylate, C 1 -C 20 alkoxy, aryloxy, C 1 -C 20 alkoxycarbonyl, C 1 -C 20 alkylthio, C 1 -C 20 alkylsulfonyl and C 1 -C 20 alkylsulfinyl, each of R b and R c optionally substituted with C 1 -C 5 alkyl, halogen, C 1 -C 5 alkoxy or with a phenyl group that is optionally substituted with halogen, C 1 -C 5 alkyl, or C 1 -C 5 alkoxy.

Other metathesis catalysts such as “well defined catalysts” can also be used. Such catalysts include, but are not limited to, Schrock's molybdenum metathesis catalyst, 2,6-diisopropylphenylimido neophylidenemolybdenum (VI) bis(hexafluoro-t-butoxide), described by Grubbs et al. ( Tetrahedron 1998, 54: 4413-4450) and Basset's tungsten metathesis catalyst described by Couturier, J. L. et al. ( Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1992, 31: 628).

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those described by Peryshkov, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133: 20754-20757; Wang, et al. Angewandte Chemie, 2013, 52: 1939-1943; Yu, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134: 2788-2799; Halford. Chem. Eng. News, 2011, 89 (45): 11; Yu, et al. Nature, 2011, 479: 88-93; Lee. Nature, 2011, 471: 452-453; Meek, et al. Nature, 2011: 471, 461-466; Flook, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133: 1784-1786; Zhao, et al. Org Lett., 2011, 13(4): 784-787; Ondi, et al. “High activity, stabilized formulations, efficient synthesis and industrial use of Mo- and W-based metathesis catalysts” XiMo Technology Updates, 2015: http://www.ximo-inc.com/files/ximo/uploads/download/Summary_3.11.15.pdf; Schrock, et al. Macromolecules, 2010: 43, 7515-7522; Peryshkov, et al. Organometallics 2013: 32, 5256-5259; Gerber, et al. Organometallics 2013: 32, 5573-5580; Marinescu, et al. Organometallics 2012: 31, 6336-6343; Wang, et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013: 52, 1939-1943; Wang, et al. Chem. Eur. J. 2013: 19, 2726-2740; and Townsend et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012: 134, 11334-11337.

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those described in International Pub. No. WO 2014/155185; International Pub. No. WO 2014/172534; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0330018; International Pub. No. WO 2015/003815; and International Pub. No. WO 2015/003814.

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,947; U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,131; U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,595; U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,956; U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,215; International Pub. No. WO 1991/009825; U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,710; U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,073; U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,033; International Pub. No. WO 1992/019631; U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,473; U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,652; U.S. Pat. No. 8,987,531; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2008/0119678; International Pub. No. WO 2008/066754; International Pub. No. WO 2009/094201; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0015430; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0065915; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0077421; International Pub. No. WO 2011/040963; International Pub. No. WO 2011/097642; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0237815; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2012/0302710; International Pub. No. WO 2012/167171; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2012/0323000; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0116434; International Pub. No. WO 2013/070725; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0274482; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0281706; International Pub. No. WO 2014/139679; International Pub. No. WO 2014/169014; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0330018; and U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0378637.

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those described in International Pub. No. WO 2007/075427; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2007/0282148; International Pub. No. WO 2009/126831; International Pub. No. WO 2011/069134; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2012/0123133; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0261312; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0296511; International Pub. No. WO 2014/134333; and U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2015/0018557.

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those set forth in the following table:

Structure

Name

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,6-isopropylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](benzylidene)(tricyclohexyl- phosphine)ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,6-isopropylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](2- isopropoxyphenylmethylene)ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-Bis(2-methylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](benzylidene)(tricyclohexyl- phosphine)ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2-methylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](2- isopropoxyphenylmethylene)ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](benzylidene)bis(3- bromopyridine)ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene](3-methyl-2- butenylidene)(tricyclohexylphosphine) ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene][3-(2-pyridinyl) propylidene]ruthenium(II)

dichloro[1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene][(tricyclohexylphosphoranyl) methylidene]ruthenium(II) tetrafluoroborate

dichloro(3-methyl-2-butenylidene) bis(tricyclohexylphosphine)ruthenium(II)

dichloro(3-methyl-2-butenylidene) bis(tricyclopentylphosphine)ruthenium(II)

dichloro(tricyclohexylphosphine)[(tricyclohexyl- phosphoranyl)methylidene]ruthenium(II) tetrafluoroborate

bis(tricyclohexylphosphine) benzylidine ruthenium(IV) dichloride

[1,3-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylpheny)-2- imidazolidinylidene]dichloro(phenylmethylene) (tricyclohexylphosphine)ruthenium

(1,3-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-2- imidazolidinylidene)dichloro(o- isopropoxyphenylmethylene)ruthenium

dichloro(o- isopropoxyphenylmethylene)(tricyclohexyl- phosphine)ruthenium(II)

[2-(1-methylethoxy-O)phenylmethyl- C](nitrato-O,O′){rel-(2R,5R,7R)-adamantane- 2,1-diyl[3-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-1- imidazolidinyl-2-y lidene]}ruthenium

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention also include those described in U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2008/0009598; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2008/0207911; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2008/0275247; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0040099; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2011/0282068; and U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2015/0038723.

Catalysts useful in the methods of the invention include those described in International Pub. No. WO 2007/140954; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2008/0221345; International Pub. No. WO 2010/037550; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2010/0087644; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2010/0113795; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2010/0174068; International Pub. No. WO 2011/091980; International Pub. No. WO 2012/168183; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0079515; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0144060; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0211096; International Pub. No. WO 2013/135776; International Pub. No. WO 2014/001291; International Pub. No. WO 2014/067767; U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0171607; and U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2015/0045558.

The catalyst is typically provided in the reaction mixture in a sub-stoichiometric amount (e.g., catalytic amount). In certain embodiments, that amount is in the range of about 0.001 to about 50 mol % with respect to the limiting reagent of the chemical reaction, depending upon which reagent is in stoichiometric excess. In some embodiments, the catalyst is present in less than or equal to about 40 mol % relative to the limiting reagent. In some embodiments, the catalyst is present in less than or equal to about 30 mol % relative to the limiting reagent. In some embodiments, the catalyst is present in less than about 20 mol %, less than about 10 mol %, less than about 5 mol %, less than about 2.5 mol %, less than about 1 mol %, less than about 0.5 mol %, less than about 0.1 mol %, less than about 0.015 mol %, less than about 0.01 mol %, less than about 0.0015 mol %, or less, relative to the limiting reagent. In some embodiments, the catalyst is present in the range of about 2.5 mol % to about 5 mol %, relative to the limiting reagent. In some embodiments, the reaction mixture contains about 0.5 mol % catalyst. In the case where the molecular formula of the catalyst complex includes more than one metal, the amount of the catalyst complex used in the reaction may be adjusted accordingly.

In some cases, the methods described herein can be performed in the absence of solvent (e.g., neat). In some cases, the methods can include the use of one or more solvents. Examples of solvents that may be suitable for use in the invention include, but are not limited to, benzene, p-cresol, toluene, xylene, diethyl ether, glycol, diethyl ether, petroleum ether, hexane, cyclohexane, pentane, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dioxane, tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, hexamethyl-phosphoric triamide, ethyl acetate, pyridine, triethylamine, picoline, and the like, as well as mixtures thereof. In some embodiments, the solvent is selected from benzene, toluene, pentane, methylene chloride, and THF. In certain embodiments, the solvent is benzene.

In some embodiments, the method is performed under reduced pressure. This may be advantageous in cases where a volatile byproduct, such as ethylene, may be produced during the course of the metathesis reaction. For example, removal of the ethylene byproduct from the reaction vessel may advantageously shift the equilibrium of the metathesis reaction towards formation of the desired product. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 760 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 700 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 650 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 600 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 550 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 500 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 450 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 400 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 350 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 300 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 250 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 200 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 150 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 100 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 90 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 80 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 70 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 60 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 50 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 40 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 30 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about less than 20 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 20 torr.

In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 19 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 18 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 17 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 16 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 15 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 14 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 13 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 12 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 11 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 10 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 10 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 9 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 8 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 7 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 6 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 5 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 4 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 3 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 2 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of about 1 torr. In some embodiments, the method is performed at a pressure of less than about 1 torr.

In some embodiments, the two metathesis reactants are present in equimolar amounts. In some embodiments, the two metathesis reactants are not present in equimolar amounts. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 20:1, 19:1, 18:1, 17:1, 16:1, 15:1, 14:1, 13:1, 12:1, 11:1, 10:1, 9:1, 8:1, 7:1, 6:1, 5:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:8, 1:9, 1:10, 1:11, 1:12, 1:13, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:19, or 1:20. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 10:1. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 7:1. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 5:1. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 2:1. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 1:10. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 1:7. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 1:5. In certain embodiments, the two reactants are present in a molar ratio of about 1:2.

In general, the reactions with many of the metathesis catalysts disclosed herein provide yields better than 15%, preferably better than 50%, more preferably better than 75%, and most preferably better than 90%. In addition, the reactants and products are chosen to provide at least a 5° C. difference, preferably a greater than 20° C. difference, and most preferably a greater than 40° C. difference in boiling points. Additionally, the use of metathesis catalysts allows for much faster product formation than byproduct, it is desirable to run these reactions as quickly as practical. In particular, the reactions are performed in less than about 24 hours, preferably less than 12 hours, more preferably less than 8 hours, and most preferably less than 4 hours.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that the time, temperature and solvent can depend on each other, and that changing one can require changing the others to prepare the pyrethroid products and intermediates in the methods of the invention. The metathesis steps can proceed at a variety of temperatures and times. In general, reactions in the methods of the invention are conducted using reaction times of several minutes to several days. For example, reaction times of from about 12 hours to about 7 days can be used. In some embodiments, reaction times of 1-5 days can be used. In some embodiments, reaction times of from about 10 minutes to about 10 hours can be used. In general, reactions in the methods of the invention are conducted at a temperature of from about 0° C. to about 200° C. For example, reactions can be conducted at 15-100° C. In some embodiments, reaction can be conducted at 20-80° C. In some embodiments, reactions can be conducted at 100-150° C.

Hydroxylation Catalysts

Various enzymes and/or whole cells comprising enzymes can be used to catalyze hydroxylation reactions described above.

Known enzyme families with terminal hydroxylation activity for medium and long chain alkanes and fatty acids include AlkB, CYP52, CYP153, and LadA (Bordeaux et al., 2012 , Angew. Chem .- Int. Edit. 51: 10712-10723; Ji et al., 2013 , Front. Microbiol. 4). For example, Malca et al. describe terminal hydroxylation of mono-unsaturated fatty acid by cytochromes P450 of the CYP153 family (Malca et al., 2012 , Chemical Communications 48: 5115-5117). Weissbart et al. describe the terminal hydroxylation of various cis and trans unsaturated lauric acid analogs (Weissbart et al., 1992 , Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Lipids and Lipid Metabolism 1124: 135-142). However, to date, none of these enzymes has been demonstrated to perform terminal hydroxylation of alkenes with internal olefins such as (E)-dec-5-ene. The presence of C═C bonds present competing sites of oxygen insertion and alters the 3-dimensional orientation of the molecule. The regioselectivity of these enzymes for the terminal C—H bond of alkanes and fatty acid substrate may not extend to alkenes with internal olefins for these reasons. For asymmetric substrates, obtaining hydroxylation at the desired terminal C—H bond presents additional challenges compared to symmetric substrates. Finally, controlling the reaction selectivity to produce a single terminal alcohol instead of α-ω diols, acids, or diacids is also a major concern.

In particular embodiments, the search for a terminal hydroxylase with activity for alkene with internal olefins starts with known terminal alkane and fatty acid hydroxylases.

There are four families of enzymes with reported terminal alkane and fatty acid hydroxylation activity: (1) methane monoxxygenases; (2) integral membrane diiron non-heme alkane hydroxylases (AlkB); (3) Cytochrome P450s (P450s); and (4) long chain alkane monoxygenases (LadA) (Bordeaux et al., 2012 , Angew. Chem .- Int. Edit. 51: 10712-10723; Ji et al., 2013 , Front. Microbiol. 4). Methane monooxygenases are difficult to express in heterologous non-methanotrophic hosts and generally prefer small substrate (<C4). Of the remaining three families, the substrate specificity based on substrate chain length of representative members is summarized below in Table 2.

In certain embodiments, depending on the chain length of the desired substrate, some members of these four enzyme families are better suited than others as candidates for evaluation. For C-10 substrates such as (E)-dec-5-ene, the substrate specificity of characterized CYP153 and AlkB enzymes makes them candidate enzymes. Likewise, for longer substrates such as (Z)-hexadec-11-ene, members of the LadA and CYP52 families appear to have the closest substrate profile.

The most widely characterized member of the AlkB family is obtained from the Alk system of Pseudomonas putida GPo1 (van Beilen and Funhoff, 2005 , Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 16: 308-314). In addition to the integral membrane diiron non-heme hydroxylase AlkB, a rubredoxin (AlkG) and a rubredoxin reductase (AlkT) are required for hydroxylation function. The entire Alk system of P. putida GPo1, alkBFGHJKL and alkST genes, which allows the strain to grown on alkanes as its sole carbon source, has been cloned into the broad host range vector pLAFR1 (pGEc47) and is available from DSMZ in the host E. Coli K12 Gec137 (Smits et al., 2001 , Plasmid 46: 16-24). The other alk genes alkF, alkJ, alkH, alkK, alkL, and alkS encode an inactive rubredoxin, an alcohol dehydrogenase, an aldehyde dehydrogenase, an acyl-CoA synthase, an alkane transporter and a global pathway regulator, respectively (Smits et al., 2003 , Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 84: 193-200). These genes facilitate the use of the alcohol product from the AlkB reaction to generate the fatty acyl-CoA that is substrate for β-oxidation. To accumulate the alcohol product, a knockout strain of alkJ, E. coli GEC137 pGEc47ΔJ has been used in a whole-cell biotransformation to produce 1-dodecanol (Grant et al., 2011 , Enzyme Microb. Technol. 48: 480-486). The presence of alkL appears to enhance substrate uptake and consequently improve the whole-cell activity for both Pseudomonas and E. coli (Cornelissen et al., 2013 , Biotechnology and Bioengineering 110: 1282-1292; Julsing et al., 2012 , Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78: 5724-5733; Scheps et al., 2013 , Microb. Biotechnol. 6: 694-707). A simplified version of pGEc47 containing only alkBFGST in the broad-host range vector pCOM10, pBT10, has also been used for the conversion of fatty-acid methyl esters to ω-hydroxy fatty acid methyl esters in E. coli W3110 (Schrewe et al., 2011 , Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis 353: 3485-3495).

CYP52 family members are membrane bound cytochrome P450s that require electron delivery from a reductase for function. CYP52 members have mainly been identified from alkane-degrading Candida species (Scheller et al., 1996 , Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 328: 245-254; Craft et al., 2003, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 5983-5991; Scheller et al., 1998 , J. Biol. Chem. 273: 32528-32534; Seghezzi et al., 1992 , DNA Cell Biol. 11: 767-780; Zimmer et al., 1996 , Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 224: 784-789). Thus far, expression and characterization of CYP52 enzymes have been performed in the native Candida host and other yeast hosts. Gene knockouts of (1) the β-oxidation pathways, (2) alcohol dehydrogenases and (3) select native CYP52s has resulted in strains that can accumulate ω-hydroxy fatty acids when fatty acids are fed to the culture (Lu et al., 2010 , J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132: 15451-15455). Of particular interest, DP428, DP522 and DP526 are C. tropicalis strains expressing a single CYP52 with the appropriate knockouts for catalyzing terminal hydroxylation of fatty acids (Lu et al., 2010 , J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132: 15451-15455).

CYP153 family members are soluble and membrane associated cytochrome P450s that also depend on electron transfer from ferredoxin and ferredoxin reductase for function (Funhoff et al., 2007 , Enzyme and Microbial Technology 40: 806-812). CYP153 members have been isolated from a range of alkane-degrading microorganisms. There are currently 56 annotated CYP153 sequences available from the Nelson P450 database, a BLAST search of CYP153A6 resulted in 221 identified homologs with >70% sequence identity. The use of CYP153 enzymes for terminal hydroxylation of octane and dodecanoic acid has been demonstrated with heterologous expression in E. coli . For the conversion of octane to octanol, the CYP153 operon from Mycobacterium sp. HXN-1500 was cloned into pET28b(+) and the biotransformation was performed in E. coli BL21(DE3) (Gudiminchi et al., 2012 , Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 96: 1507-1516). For the conversion of dodecanoic acid, an E. coli HMS174 strain containing a fusion of a CYP153A M.aq. mutant with the CYP102A1 reductase domain in pColaDuet-1 along with alkL was used for the transformation (Scheps et al., 2013 , Microb. Biotechnol. 6: 694-707).

Long chain alkane monooxygenase, LadA, isolated from G. thermodemtrificants NG80-2 catalyzes the terminal hydroxylation of C15 to C36 alkanes with a metal-free flavoprotein mechanism that differs from AlkB and CYP enzymes (Dong et al., 2012 , Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 94: 1019-1029). The LadA reaction requires FMNH 2 or NADPH and the native reductase partner has yet to be identified. Expression of the LadA gene in E. coli BL21 (DE3) using the pET-28a(+) plasmid yielded cell extracts with terminal hydroxylation activity for hexadecane (Dong et al., 2012 , Appl. Microbial. Biotechnol. 94: 1019-1029). Literature reports of LadA hydroxylation reactions have been performed using purified enzymes and examples of whole-cell biotransformation is lacking.

Coding sequences for enzymes that may be used herein may be derived from bacterial, fungal, or plant sources. Tables 3, 4, and 5 list enzymes for coding regions of representative non-heme diiron alkane monooxygenases, long-chain alkane hydroxylases, and cytochromes P450, respectively. Additional enzymes and their coding sequences may be identified by BLAST searching of public databases. Typically, BLAST searching of publicly available databases with known non-heme diiron alkane monooxygenases, cytochromes P450, and long-chain alkane hydroxylase sequences, such as those provided herein, is used to identify enzymes and their encoding sequences that may be used in the present invention. For example, enzymes having amino acid sequence identities of at least about 80-85%, 85%-90%, 90%-95%, or about 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% sequence identity to any of the enzymes listed in Tables 3, 4, and 5 may be used. Hydroxylase enzymes can be codon-optimized for expression in certain desirable host organisms, such as yeast and E. coli.

In other embodiments, the sequences of the enzymes provided herein may be used to identify other homologs in nature. For example, each of the encoding nucleic acid fragments described herein may be used to isolate genes encoding homologous proteins. Isolation of homologous genes using sequence-dependent protocols is well known in the art. Examples of sequence-dependent protocols include, but are not limited to, (1) methods of nucleic acid hybridization, (2) methods of DNA and RNA amplification, as exemplified by various uses of nucleic acid amplification technologies (e.g., polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Mullis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202; ligase chain reaction (LCR), Tabor, S. et al., Proc. Acad. Sci. USA 82:1074 (1985); or strand displacement amplification (SDA), Walker et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:392 (1992)), and (3) methods of library construction and screening by complementation.

Hydroxylase enzymes or whole cells expressing hydroxylase enzymes can be further engineered for use in the methods of the invention. Enzymes can be engineered for improved hydroxylation activity, improved Z:E selectivity, improved regioselectivity, improved selectivity for hydroxylation over epoxidation and/or improved selectivity for hydroxylation over dehalogenation. The term “improved hydroxylation activity” as used herein with respect to a particular enzymatic activity refers to a higher level of enzymatic activity than that measured in a comparable non-engineered hydroxylase enzyme of whole cells comprising a hydroxylase enzyme. For example, overexpression of a specific enzyme can lead to an increased level of activity in the cells for that enzyme. Mutations can be introduced into a hydroxylase enzyme resulting in engineered enzymes with improved hydroxylation activity. Methods to increase enzymatic activity are known to those skilled in the art. Such techniques can include increasing the expression of the enzyme by increasing plasmid copy number and/or use of a stronger promoter and/or use of activating riboswitches, introduction of mutations to relieve negative regulation of the enzyme, introduction of specific mutations to increase specific activity and/or decrease the KM for the substrate, or by directed evolution. See, e.g., Methods in Molecular Biology (vol. 231), ed. Arnold and Georgiou, Humana Press (2003).

Accordingly, some embodiments of the invention provide methods for synthesizing olefinic alcohol products as described above, wherein the enzyme is a non-heme diiron monooxygenase. In some embodiments, the non-heme diiron monooxygenase is selected from Table 3 or a variant thereof having at least 90% identity thereto.

In some embodiments, the invention provides methods for synthesizing olefinic alcohol products as described above, wherein the enzyme is a long-chain alkane hydroxylase. In some embodiments, the long-chain alkane hydroxylase is selected from Table 4 or a variant thereof having at least 90% identity thereto.

In some embodiments, the invention provides methods for synthesizing olefinic alcohol products as described above, wherein the enzyme is a cytochrome P450. In some embodiments, the cytochrome P450 is selected from Table 5 or a variant thereof having at least 90% identity thereto. In some embodiments, the cytochrome P450 is a member of the CYP52 or CYP153 family.

In some embodiments, the invention provide methods for synthesizing olefinic alcohol products as described above, wherein the enzyme is selected from AlkB, AlkB P1, and AlkB1 AB. In some embodiments, the enzyme is selected from CYP153 M. sp.; CYP153A M. aq.; CYP153A M. aq. (G307A); Cyp153A M. aq. (G307A)-CPR BM3 ; Cyp153A P.sp.-CPR BM3 ; CYP153A13N2; CYP153A13N3; CYP153A13P2; and CYP153A7. In some embodiments, the enzyme is selected from CYP52A13 and CYP52A3.

In a related aspect, the invention provides a whole cell catalyst comprising an enzyme capable of selectively hydroxylating one terminal carbon of an unsaturated or saturated hydrocarbon substrate. In some embodiments, the cell is a microbial cell. In some embodiments, the enzyme is selected from the group consisting of a non-heme diiron monooxygenase, a long-chain alkane hydroxylase, a cytochrome P450, and combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the enzyme is selected from Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, or a variant thereof having at least 90% identity thereto.

The methods of the invention allow for the production of terminal alcohols with controlled regioselectivity, while disfavoring the formation of unwanted species such as epoxides or elimination products. The stereochemistry of an olefinic alcohol product will depend on factors including the structure of the particular olefinic substrate used in a particular reaction, as well as the identity of the enzyme. The methods of the invention can be conducted with enzymes that are selective for particular substrates (e.g., cis or Z alkenes vs. trans or E alkenes), as well as with enzymes that demonstrate terminal selectivity (e.g., hydroxylation of one end of an asymmetric alkene vs. the other end of the asymmetric alkene).

In certain instances, a hydroxylase enzyme will exhibit catalytic efficiency with one isomer of an internal alkene (e.g., the cis or Z isomer of an internal alkene) that is greater than the catalytic efficiency exhibited with the other isomer of the same internal alkene (e.g., the trans or E isomer of an internal alkene). In some embodiments, the invention provides methods wherein the catalytic efficiency of the hydroxylase enzyme is at least about 2-fold greater with one isomer of an internal alkene than with the other isomer of the internal alkene. The catalytic efficiency exhibited by a hydroxylase with one isomer of an internal alkene can be, for example, at least about 4-fold, at least about 5-fold, at least about 6-fold, at least about 7-fold, at least about 8-fold, at least about 9-fold, at least about 10-fold, at least about 25-fold, at least about 50-fold, at least about 100-fold, or at least about 500-fold greater than the catalytic efficiency exhibited by the hydroxylase with the other isomer of the internal alkene.

A particular enzyme can therefore produce Z product over E product from a mixture of Z and E isomeric substrates or enrich the Z product over the E product. In certain embodiments, the invention provides methods for preparing olefinic alcohol products wherein the Z:E (cis:trans) isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product is different from the Z:E (cis:trans) isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate. The Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product can be, for example, around 2 times greater than the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate. The Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product can be, for example, around 1.25 times, 1.5 times, 2 times, 2.5 times, 3 times, 4 times, 5 times, 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, or 40 times greater than the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate.

In some embodiments, the invention provides methods for preparing olefinic alcohol products wherein the E:Z (trans:cis) isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product is different from the E:Z (trans:cis) isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate. The E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product can be, for example, around 2 times greater than the E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate. The E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol product can be, for example, around 1.25 times, 1.5 times, 2 times, 2.5 times, 3 times, 4 times, 5 times, 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, or 40 times greater than the E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate.

In some embodiments, the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol is about 1.25 times greater than the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate. In some embodiments, the E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol is about 1.25 times greater than the E:Z isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate.

In certain instances, the biohydroxylation reactions in the methods of the invention have the potential to form a mixture of two or more products from the same substrate. When an olefinic substrate is asymmetric, for example, hydroxylation of one end/terminus of the substrate leads to one product while hydroxylation of the other end/terminus of the substrate leads to a different product. A reaction could therefore result in a mixture of two olefinic alcohol products. The terminal isomer ratio of an asymmetric olefinic alcohol product can range from about 1:99 to about 99:1. The terminal isomer ratio can be, for example, from about 1:99 to about 1:75, or from about 1:75 to about 1:50, or from about 1:50 to about 1:25, or from about 99:1 to about 75:1, or from about 75:1 to about 50:1, or from about 50:1 to about 25:1. The terminal isomer ratio can be from about 1:80 to about 1:20, or from about 1:60 to about 1:40, or from about 80:1 to about 20:1 or from about 60:1 to about 40:1. The terminal isomer ratio can be about 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, 1:20, 1:25, 1:30, 1:35, 1:40, 1:45, 1:50, 1:55, 1:60, 1:65, 1:70, 1:75, 1:80, 1:85, 1:90, or about 1:95. The terminal isomer ratio can be about 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, 20:1, 25:1, 30:1, 35:1, 40:1, 45:1, 50:1, 55:1, 60:1, 65:1, 70:1, 75:1, 80:1, 85:1, 90:1, or about 95:1.

The distribution of a product mixture can be expressed as a regioselectivity percentage (“regioselectivity %”). Taking the reaction in FIG. 3 as a non-limiting example, for instance, the regioselectivity of (Z)-5-hexadecene hydroxylation can be calculated using the formula: regioselectivity %=[(χ 11 )/(χ 11 +χ 5 )]×100%, wherein ω 11 is the mole fraction for (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol and wherein χ 5 is the mole fraction for (Z)-5-hexadecen-1-ol. In general, the regioselectivity % with respect to terminal alcohol isomers ranges from about 1% to about 99%. The regioselectivity % can be from about 1% to about 99%, or from about 20% to about 80%, or from about 40% to about 60%, or from about 1% to about 25%, or from about 25% to about 50%, or from about 50% to about 75%. The regioselectivity % can be at least about 5% 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%.

In some embodiments, the regioselectivity % is at least about 60%. In some embodiments, the regioselectivity % is at least about 60% and the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic alcohol is about 1.25 times greater than the Z:E isomeric ratio of the olefinic substrate.

In certain instances, varying levels of olefin epoxidation will occur during the biohydroxylation reactions used in the methods of the invention. See, e.g., Scheme 7. Epoxidation of terminal alkenes, in particular, can occur when certain hydroxylase enzymes are used. It is often desirable to minimize such epoxidation or avoid the formation of epoxides altogether. Typically, methods of the invention are conducted with hydroxylase enzymes that produce product mixtures with alcohol product:epoxide ratios of at least 1:1. The alcohol product:epoxide ratio can range from about 1:1 to about 99:1. The alcohol:epoxide ratio can be, for example, from about 99:1 to about 75:1, or from about 75:1 to about 50:1, or from about 50:1 to about 25:1. The alcohol:epoxide ratio can be from about 80:1 to about 20:1 or from about 60:1 to about 40:1. The alcohol:epoxide ratio can be about 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, 20:1, 25:1, 30:1, 35:1, 40:1, 45:1, 50:1, 55:1, 60:1, 65:1, 70:1, 75:1, 80:1, 85:1, 90:1, or about 95:1.

In some embodiments, methods are conducted using an enzyme that produces an olefinic alcohol product:epoxide product ratio of greater than 1:1. In some embodiments, the enzyme produces an olefinic alcohol product:epoxide product ratio of greater than 2:1.

The distribution of a product mixture can be expressed as a percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. epoxidation. Taking the reaction in Scheme 7a as a non-limiting example, the percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. epoxidation of a terminal alkene can be calculated using the formula: selectivity %=[(χ H )/(χ H +χ E )]×100%, wherein χ H is the mole fraction for the hydroxylation product (i.e., the terminal olefinic alcohol) and wherein χ E is the mole fraction for the epoxidation product (i.e., the terminal epoxide). In general, the percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. epoxidation ranges from about 1% to about 99%. The percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. epoxidation can be from about 1% to about 99%, or from about 20% to about 80%, or from about 40% to about 60%, or from about 1% to about 25%, or from about 25% to about 50%, or from about 50% to about 75%. The percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. epoxidation can be about 5% 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%.

When halogen-substituted substrates are used in the methods of the invention, varying levels of dehalogenation can occur during hydroxylation. Dehalogenation typically results in the formation of aldehyde byproduct. Preferably, dehalogenation is minimized or avoided during the hydroxylation reactions. Typically, methods of the invention are conducted with hydroxylase enzymes that produce product mixtures with alcohol:aldehyde ratios of at least 1:1. The alcohol:aldehyde ratio of the product can range from about 1:1 to about 99:1. The alcohol:aldehyde ratio can be, for example, from about 99:1 to about 75:1, or from about 75:1 to about 50:1, or from about 50:1 to about 25:1. The alcohol:aldehyde ratio can be from about 80:1 to about 20:1 or from about 60:1 to about 40:1. The alcohol:aldehyde ratio can be about 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, 20:1, 25:1, 30:1, 35:1, 40:1, 45:1, 50:1, 55:1, 60:1, 65:1, 70:1, 75:1, 80:1, 85:1, 90:1, or about 95:1.

The distribution of a product mixture can be expressed as a percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. dehalogenation. The percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. dehalogenation of a halogen-substituted substrate can be calculated using the formula: selectivity %=[(χ H )/(χ H +χ A )]×100%, wherein χ H is the mole fraction for the hydroxylation product and wherein χ A is the mole fraction for the aldehyde product. In general, the percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. dehalogenation ranges from about 1% to about 99%. The percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. dehalogenation can be from about 1% to about 99%, or from about 20% to about 80%, or from about 40% to about 60%, or from about 1% to about 25%, or from about 25% to about 50%, or from about 50% to about 75%. The percent selectivity for hydroxylation vs. dehalogenation can be about 5% 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%.

Synthesis of Terminal Alkenals

As indicated above, the alcohol moiety generated via hydroxylation can be further modified to generate alkenals or acetate esters.

Oxidation of Fatty Alcohols

Oxidation of fatty alcohols is often achieved via selective oxidation via pyridinium chlorocrhomate (PCC) (Scheme 20).

Alternatively, TEMPO (TEMPO=2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-N-oxyl) and related catalyst systems can be used to selectively oxidize alcohols to aldehydes. These methods are described in Ryland and Stahl (2014), herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Bio-Oxidation of Terminal Alcohols

Many insect pheromones are fatty aldehydes or comprise a fatty aldehyde component. As such, the conversion of the fatty alcohol produced via terminal hydroxylation to the fatty aldehyde is required to produce certain pheromones. The conversion of a fatty alcohol to a fatty aldehyde is known to be catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) and alcohol oxidases (AOX). Additionally, the conversion of a length C n fatty acid to a C n-1 fatty aldehyde is catalyzed by plant α-dioxygenases (α-DOX) (Scheme 21).

The present invention describes enzymes that oxidize fatty alcohols to fatty aldehydes.

In some embodiments, an alcohol oxidase (AOX) is used to catalyze the conversion of a fatty alcohol to a fatty aldehyde. Alcohol oxidases catalyze the conversion of alcohols into corresponding aldehydes (or ketones) with electron transfer via the use of molecular oxygen to form hydrogen peroxide as a by-product. AOX enzymes utilize flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as an essential cofactor and regenerate with the help of oxygen in the reaction medium. Catalase enzymes may be coupled with the AOX to avoid accumulation of the hydrogen peroxide via catalytic conversion into water and oxygen.

Based on the substrate specificities, AOXs may be categorized into four groups: (a) short chain alcohol oxidase, (b) long chain alcohol oxidase, (c) aromatic alcohol oxidase, and (d) secondary alcohol oxidase (Goswami et al. 2013). Depending on the chain length of the desired substrate, some member of these four groups are better suited than others as candidates for evaluation.

Short chain alcohol oxidases (including but not limited to those currently classified as EC 1.1.3.13, Table 7) catalyze the oxidation of lower chain length alcohol substrates in the range of C1-C8 carbons (van der Klei et al. 1991) (Ozimek et al. 2005). Aliphatic alcohol oxidases from methylotrophic yeasts such as Candida boidinii and Komagataella pastoris (formerly Pichia pastoris ) catalyze the oxidation of primary alkanols to the corresponding aldehydes with a preference for unbranched short-chain aliphatic alcohols. The most broad substrate specificity is found for alcohol oxidase from the Pichia pastoris including propargyl alcohol, 2-chloroethanol, 2-cyanoethanol (Dienys et al. 2003). The major challenge encountered in alcohol oxidation is the high reactivity of the aldehyde product. Utilization of a two liquid phase system (water/solvent) can provide in-situ removal of the aldehyde product from the reaction phase before it is further converted to the acid. For example, hexanal production from hexanol using Pichia pastoris alcohol oxidase coupled with bovine liver catalase was achieved in a bi-phasic system by taking advantage of the presence of a stable alcohol oxidase in aqueous phase (Karra-Chaabouni et al. 2003). For example, alcohol oxidase from Pichia pastoris was able to oxidize aliphatic alcohols of C6 to C11 when used biphasic organic reaction system (Murray and Duff 1990). Methods for using alcohol oxidases in a biphasic system according to (Karra-Chaabouni et al. 2003) and (Murray and Duff 1990) are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Long chain alcohol oxidases (including but not limited to those currently classified as EC 1.1.3.20; Table 8) include fatty alcohol oxidases, long chain fatty acid oxidases, and long chain fatty alcohol oxidases that oxidize alcohol substrates with carbon chain length of greater than six (Goswami et al. 2013). Banthorpe et al. reported a long chain alcohol oxidase purified from the leaves of Tanacetum vulgare that was able to oxidize saturated and unsaturated long chain alcohol substrates including hex-trans-2-en-1-ol and octan-1-ol (Banthorpe 1976) (Cardemil 1978). Other plant species, including Simmondsia chinensis (Moreau, R. A., Huang 1979), Arabidopsis thaliana (Cheng et al. 2004), and Lotus japonicas (Zhao et al. 2008) have also been reported as sources of long chain alcohol oxidases. Fatty alcohol oxidases are mostly reported from yeast species (Hommel and Ratledge 1990) (Vanhanen et al. 2000) (Hommel et al. 1994) (Kemp et al. 1990) and these enzymes play an important role in long chain fatty acid metabolism (Cheng et al. 2005). Fatty alcohol oxidases from yeast species that degrade and grow on long chain alkanes and fatty acid catalyze the oxidation of fatty alcohols. Fatty alcohol oxidase from Candida tropicalis has been isolated as microsomal cell fractions and characterized for a range of substrates (Eirich et al. 2004) (Kemp et al. 1988) (Kemp et al. 1991) (Mauersberger et al. 1992). Significant activity is observed for primary alcohols of length C 8 to C 16 with reported KM in the 10-50 μM range (Eirich et al. 2004). Alcohol oxidases described may be used for the conversion of medium chain aliphatic alcohols to aldehydes as described, for example, for whole-cells Candida boidinii (Gabelman and Luzio 1997), and Pichia pastoris (Duff and Murray 1988) (Murray and Duff 1990). Long chain alcohol oxidases from filamentous fungi were produced during growth on hydrocarbon substrates (Kumar and Goswami 2006) (Savitha and Ratledge 1991). The long chain fatty alcohol oxidase (LjFAO1) from Lotus japonicas has been heterologously expressed in E. coli and exhibited broad substrate specificity for alcohol oxidation including 1-dodecanol and 1-hexadecanol (Zhao et al. 2008).

In some embodiments, an alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH, Table 9) is used to catalyze the conversion of a fatty alcohol to a fatty aldehyde. A number of ADHs identified from alkanotrophic organisms, Pseudomonas fluorescens NRRL B-1244 (Hou et al. 1983), Pseudomonas butanovora ATCC 43655 (Vangnai and Arp 2001), and Acinetobacter sp. strain M-1 (Tani et al. 2000), have shown to be active on short to medium-chain alkyl alcohols (C 2 to C 14 ). Additionally, commercially available ADHs from Sigma, Horse liver ADH and Baker's yeast ADH have detectable activity for substrates with length C 10 and greater. The reported activities for the longer fatty alcohols may be impacted by the difficulties in solubilizing the substrates. For the yeast ADH from Sigma, little to no activity is observed for C 12 to C 14 aldehydes by (Tani et al. 2000), however, activity for C 12 and C 16 hydroxy-ω-fatty acids has been observed (Lu et al. 2010). Recently, two ADHs were characterized from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans NG80-2, an organism that degrades C 15 to C 36 alkanes using the LadA hydroxylase. Activity was detected from methanol to 1-triacontanol (C 30 ) for both ADHs, with 1-octanol being the preferred substrate for ADH2 and ethanol for ADH1 (Liu et al. 2009).

The use of ADHs in whole-cell bioconversions has been mostly focused on the production of chiral alcohols from ketones (Ernst et al. 2005) (Schroer et al. 2007). Using the ADH from Lactobacillus brevis and coupled cofactor regeneration with isopropanol, Schroer et al. reported the production of 797 g of (R)-methyl-3 hydroxybutanoate from methyl acetoacetate, with a space time yield of 29 g/L/h (Schroer et al. 2007). Examples of aliphatic alcohol oxidation in whole-cell transformations have been reported with commercially obtained S. cerevisiae for the conversion of hexanol to hexanal (Presecki et al. 2012) and 2-heptanol to 2-heptanone (Cappaert and Larroche 2004).

In some embodiments, an α-dioxygenase is used to catalyze the conversion of a fatty acid to a fatty aldehyde (Hamberg et al. 2005). Alpha-dioxygenases catalyze the conversion of a C n fatty acid to a C n-1 aldehyde and may serve as an alternative to both ADH and AOX for fatty aldehyde production if a fatty acid is used as a biotransformation substrate. Due to the chain shortening of the dioxygenase reaction, this route requires a different synthesis pathway compared to the ADH and AOX routes. Biotransformations of E. coli cells expressing a rice α-dioxygenase exhibited conversion of C10, C12, C14 and C16 fatty acids to the corresponding C n-1 aldehydes. With the addition of the detergent Triton X 100, 3.7 mM of pentadecanal (0.8 g/L) was obtained after 3 hours from hexadecanoic acid with 74% conversion (Kaehne et al. 2011). Exemplary α-dioxygenases are shown in Table 10.

An enzyme's total turnover number (or TTN) refers to the maximum number of molecules of a substrate that the enzyme can convert before becoming inactivated. In general, the TTN for the hydroxylases and other enzymes used in the methods of the invention range from about 1 to about 100,000 or higher. For example, the TTN can be from about 1 to about 1,000, or from about 1,000 to about 10,000, or from about 10,000 to about 100,000, or from about 50,000 to about 100,000, or at least about 100,000. In particular embodiments, the TTN can be from about 100 to about 10,000, or from about 10,000 to about 50,000, or from about 5,000 to about 10,000, or from about 1,000 to about 5,000, or from about 100 to about 1,000, or from about 250 to about 1,000, or from about 100 to about 500, or at least about 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500, 7000, 7500, 8000, 8500, 9000, 9500, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 35,000, 40,000, 45,000, 50,000, 55,000, 60,000, 65,000, 70,000, 75,000, 80,000, 85,000, 90,000, 95,000, 100,000, or more.

When whole cells expressing a hydroxylase are used to carry out a hydroxylation reaction, the turnover can be expressed as the amount of substrate that is converted to product by a given amount of cellular material. In general, in vivo hydroxylation reactions exhibit turnovers from at least about 0.01 to at least about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 , wherein g cdw is the mass of cell dry weight in grams. When whole cells expressing a hydroxylase are used to carry out a hydroxylation reaction, the activity can further be expressed as a specific productivity, e.g., concentration of product formed by a given concentration of cellular material per unit time, e.g., in g/L of product per g/L of cellular material per hour (g g cdw −1 h −1 ). In general, in vivo hydroxylation reactions exhibit specific productivities from at least about 0.01 to at least about 0.5 g·g cdw −1 h −1 , wherein g cdw is the mass of cell dry weight in grams.

The TTN for heme enzymes, in particular, typically ranges from about 1 to about 100,000 or higher. For example, the TTN can be from about 1 to about 1,000, or from about 1,000 to about 10,000, or from about 10,000 to about 100,000, or from about 50,000 to about 100,000, or at least about 100,000. In particular embodiments, the TTN can be from about 100 to about 10,000, or from about 10,000 to about 50,000, or from about 5,000 to about 10,000, or from about 1,000 to about 5,000, or from about 100 to about 1,000, or from about 250 to about 1,000, or from about 100 to about 500, or at least about 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500, 7000, 7500, 8000, 8500, 9000, 9500, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 35,000, 40,000, 45,000, 50,000, 55,000, 60,000, 65,000, 70,000, 75,000, 80,000, 85,000, 90,000, 95,000, 100,000, or more. In certain embodiments, the variant or chimeric heme enzymes of the present invention have higher TTNs compared to the wild-type sequences. In some instances, the variant or chimeric heme enzymes have TTNs greater than about 100 (e.g., at least about 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 325, 350, 400, 450, 500, or more) in carrying out in vitro hydroxylation reactions. In other instances, the variant or chimeric heme enzymes have TTNs greater than about 1000 (e.g., at least about 1000, 2500, 5000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, or more) in carrying out in vivo whole cell hydroxylation reactions.

When whole cells expressing a heme enzyme are used to carry out a hydroxylation reaction, the turnover can be expressed as the amount of substrate that is converted to product by a given amount of cellular material. In general, in vivo hydroxylation reactions exhibit turnovers from at least about 0.01 to at least about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 , wherein g cdw is the mass of cell dry weight in grams. For example, the turnover can be from about 0.1 to about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 , or from about 1 to about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 , or from about 5 to about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 , or from about 0.01 to about 1 mmol·g cdw −1 , or from about 0.01 to about 0.1 mmol·g cdw −1 , or from about 0.1 to about 1 mmol·g cdw −1 , or greater than 1 mmol·g cdw −1 . The turnover can be about 0.01, 0.015, 0.02, 0.025, 0.03, 0.035, 0.04, 0.045, 0.05, 0.055, 0.06, 0.065, 0.07, 0.075, 0.08, 0.085, 0.09, 0.095, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55, 0.6, 0.65, 0.7, 0.75, 0.8, 0.85, 0.9, 0.95, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5, or about 10 mmol·g cdw −1 .

When whole cells expressing a heme enzyme are used to carry out a hydroxylation reaction, the activity can further be expressed as a specific productivity, e.g., concentration of product formed by a given concentration of cellular material per unit time, e.g., in g/L of product per g/L of cellular material per hour (g·g cdw −1 h −1 ). In general, in vivo hydroxylation reactions exhibit specific productivities from at least about 0.01 to at least about 0.5 g·g cdw −1 h −1 , wherein g cdw is the mass of cell dry weight in grams. For example, the specific productivity can be from about 0.01 to about 0.1 g·g cdw −1 h −1 , or from about 0.1 to about 0.5 g·g cdw −1 h −1 , or greater than 0.5 g·g cdw −1 h −1 . The specific productivity can be about 0.01, 0.015, 0.02, 0.025, 0.03, 0.035, 0.04, 0.045, 0.05, 0.055, 0.06, 0.065, 0.07, 0.075, 0.08, 0.085, 0.09, 0.095, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, or about 0.5 g·g cdw −1 h −1 .

In certain embodiments, mutations can be introduced into the target gene using standard cloning techniques (e.g., site-directed mutagenesis) or by gene synthesis to produce the hydroxylases (e.g., cytochrome P450 variants) of the present invention. The mutated gene can be expressed in a host cell (e.g., bacterial cell) using an expression vector under the control of an inducible promoter or by means of chromosomal integration under the control of a constitutive promoter. Hydroxylation activity can be screened in vivo or in vitro by following product formation by GC or HPLC as described herein.

The expression vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a heme enzyme of the invention can be a viral vector, a plasmid, a phage, a phagemid, a cosmid, a fosmid, a bacteriophage (e.g., a bacteriophage P1-derived vector (PAC)), a baculovirus vector, a yeast plasmid, or an artificial chromosome (e.g., bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC), a mammalian artificial chromosome (MAC), and human artificial chromosome (HAC)). Expression vectors can include chromosomal, non-chromosomal, and synthetic DNA sequences. Equivalent expression vectors to those described herein are known in the art and will be apparent to the ordinarily skilled artisan.

The expression vector can include a nucleic acid sequence encoding a heme enzyme that is operably linked to a promoter, wherein the promoter comprises a viral, bacterial, archaeal, fungal, insect, or mammalian promoter. In certain embodiments, the promoter is a constitutive promoter. In some embodiments, the promoter is an inducible promoter. In other embodiments, the promoter is a tissue-specific promoter or an environmentally regulated or a developmentally regulated promoter.

It is to be understood that affinity tags may be added to the N- and/or C-terminus of a heme enzyme expressed using an expression vector to facilitate protein purification. Non-limiting examples of affinity tags include metal binding tags such as His6-tags and other tags such as glutathione S-transferase (GST).

Non-limiting expression vectors for use in bacterial host cells include pCWori, pET vectors such as pET22 (EMD Millipore), pBR322 (ATCC37017), pQE™ vectors (Qiagen), pBluescript™ vectors (Stratagene), pNH vectors, lambda-ZAP vectors (Stratagene); ptrc99a, pKK223-3, pDR540, pRIT2T (Pharmacia), pRSET, pCR-TOPO vectors, pET vectors, pSyn_1 vectors, pChlamy_1 vectors (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, Calif.), pGEM1 (Promega, Madison, Wis.), and pMAL (New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Mass.). Non-limiting examples of expression vectors for use in eukaryotic host cells include pXT1, pSG5 (Stratagene), pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG, pSVLSV40 (Pharmacia), pcDNA3.3, pcDNA4/TO, pcDNA6/TR, pLenti6/TR, pMT vectors (Life Technologies), pKLAC1 vectors, pKLAC2 vectors (New England Biolabs), pQE™ vectors (Qiagen), BacPak baculoviral vectors, pAdeno-X™ adenoviral vectors (Clontech), and pBABE retroviral vectors. Any other vector may be used as long as it is replicable and viable in the host cell.

The host cell can be a bacterial cell, an archaeal cell, a fungal cell, a yeast cell, an insect cell, or a mammalian cell.

Suitable bacterial host cells include, but are not limited to, BL21 E. coli , DE3 strain E. coli, E. coli M15, DH5α, DH10β, HB101, T7 Express Competent E. coli (NEB), B. subtilis cells, Pseudomonas fluorescens cells, and cyanobacterial cells such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells and Synechococcus elongates cells. Non-limiting examples of archaeal host cells include Pyrococcus furiosus, Metallosphera sedula, Thermococcus litoralis, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, Methanococcus jannaschii, Pyrococcus abyssi, Sulfolobus solfataricus, Pyrococcus woesei, Sulfolobus shibatae , and variants thereof. Fungal host cells include, but are not limited to, yeast cells from the genera Saccharomyces (e.g., S. cerevisiae ), Pichia ( P. Pastoris ), Kluyveromyces (e.g., K. lactis ), Hansenula and Yarrowia , and filamentous fungal cells from the genera Aspergillus, Trichoderma , and Myceliophthora . Suitable insect host cells include, but are not limited to, Sf9 cells from Spodoptera frugiperda , Sf21 cells from Spodoptera frugiperda , Hi-Five cells, BTI-TN-5B1-4 Trichophusia ni cells, and Schneider 2 (S2) cells and Schneider 3 (S3) cells from Drosophila melanogaster . Non-limiting examples of mammalian host cells include HEK293 cells, HeLa cells, CHO cells, COS cells, Jurkat cells, NS0 hybridoma cells, baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells, MDCK cells, NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells, and any other immortalized cell line derived from a mammalian cell.

In certain embodiments, the present invention provides heme enzymes such as the P450 variants described herein that are active hydroxylation catalysts inside living cells. As a non-limiting example, bacterial cells (e.g., E. coli ) can be used as whole cell catalysts for the in vivo hydroxylation reactions of the present invention. In some embodiments, whole cell catalysts containing P450 enzymes with the equivalent C400X mutation are found to significantly enhance the total turnover number (TTN) compared to in vitro reactions using isolated P450 enzymes.

Biohydroxylation Reaction Conditions

The methods of the invention include forming reaction mixtures that contain the hydroxylases described herein. The hydroxylases can be, for example, purified prior to addition to a reaction mixture or secreted by a cell present in the reaction mixture. The reaction mixture can contain a cell lysate including the enzyme, as well as other proteins and other cellular materials. Alternatively, a hydroxylase can catalyze the reaction within a cell expressing the hydroxylase. Any suitable amount of hydroxylase can be used in the methods of the invention. In general, hydroxylation reaction mixtures contain from about 0.01 weight % (wt %) to about 100 wt % hydroxylase with respect to the hydrocarbon substrate. The reaction mixtures can contain, for example, from about 0.01 wt % to about 0.1 wt % hydroxylase, or from about 0.1 wt % to about 1 wt % hydroxylase, or from about 1 wt % to about 10 wt % hydroxylase, or from about 10 wt % to about 100 wt % hydroxylase. The reaction mixtures can contain from about 0.05 wt % to about 5 wt % hydroxylase, or from about 0.05 wt % to about 0.5 wt % hydroxylase. The reaction mixtures can contain about 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, or about 3 wt % hydroxylase. One of skill in the art will understand how to convert wt % values to mol % values with respect to the hydroxylase and/or substrate concentrations set forth herein.

If the hydroxylase catalyses the reaction within a cell expressing the hydroxylase then any suitable amount of cells can be used in the methods of the invention. In general, hydroxylation whole-cell reaction mixtures contain from about 1 weight % to about 10,000 wt % of cells on a cell dry weight basis with respect to the hydrocarbon substrate. The whole-cell reaction mixtures can contain, for example, from about 1 wt % to about 10 wt % cells, or from about 10 wt % to about 100 wt % cells, or from about 100 wt % to about 1000 wt % cells, or from about 1000 wt % cells to about 2500 wt % cells, or from about 2500 wt % cells to about 5000 wt % cells, or from about 5000 wt % cells to about 7500 wt % cells, or from about 7500 wt % cells to about 10000 wt % cells with respect to the hydrocarbon substrate. The whole-cell reaction mixtures can contain from about 2 wt % to about 1000 wt % cells, or from about 5 wt % to about 500 wt % cells with respect to the hydrocarbon substrate. The whole-cell reaction mixtures can contain about 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, or about 1000 wt % cells with respect to the hydrocarbon substrate.

The concentration of a saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate is typically in the range of from about 100 μM to about 1 M. The concentration can be, for example, from about 100 μM to about 1 mM, or about from 1 mM to about 100 mM, or from about 100 mM to about 500 mM, or from about 500 mM to 1 M. The concentration can be from about 500 μM to about 500 mM, 500 μM to about 50 mM, or from about 1 mM to about 50 mM, or from about 15 mM to about 45 mM, or from about 15 mM to about 30 mM. The concentration of the saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate can be, for example, about 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, or 900 μM. The concentration of the saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon substrate can be about 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, or 500 mM.

Reaction mixtures can contain additional reagents. As non-limiting examples, the reaction mixtures can contain buffers (e.g., 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES), 2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazin-1-yl]ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), 3-morpholinopropane-1-sulfonic acid (MOPS), 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-propane-1,3-diol (TRIS), potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, phosphate-buffered saline, sodium citrate, sodium acetate, and sodium borate), cosolvents (e.g., dimethylsulfoxide, dimethylformamide, ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, glycerol, tetrahydrofuran, acetone, acetonitrile, and acetic acid), salts (e.g., NaCl, KCl, CaCl 2 ), and salts of Mn 2+ and Mg 2+ ), denaturants (e.g., urea and guandinium hydrochloride), detergents (e.g., sodium dodecylsulfate and Triton-X 100), chelators (e.g., ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), 2-({2-[Bis(carboxymethyl)amino]ethyl}(carboxymethyl)amino)acetic acid (EDTA), and 1,2-bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA)), sugars (e.g., glucose, sucrose, and the like), and reducing agents (e.g., sodium dithionite, NADPH, dithiothreitol (DTT), β-mercaptoethanol (BME), and tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP)). Buffers, cosolvents, salts, denaturants, detergents, chelators, sugars, and reducing agents can be used at any suitable concentration, which can be readily determined by one of skill in the art. In general, buffers, cosolvents, salts, denaturants, detergents, chelators, sugars, and reducing agents, if present, are included in reaction mixtures at concentrations ranging from about 1 μM to about 1 M. For example, a buffer, a cosolvent, a salt, a denaturant, a detergent, a chelator, a sugar, or a reducing agent can be included in a reaction mixture at a concentration of about 1 μM, or about 10 μM, or about 100 μM, or about 1 mM, or about 10 mM, or about 25 mM, or about 50 mM, or about 100 mM, or about 250 mM, or about 500 mM, or about 1 M. Cosolvents, in particular, can be included in the reaction mixtures in amounts ranging from about 1% v/v to about 75% v/v, or higher. A cosolvent can be included in the reaction mixture, for example, in an amount of about 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50% (v/v).

Reactions are conducted under conditions sufficient to catalyze the formation of a hydroxylation product. The reactions can be conducted at any suitable temperature. In general, the reactions are conducted at a temperature of from about 4° C. to about 40° C. The reactions can be conducted, for example, at about 25° C. or about 37° C. The reactions can be conducted at any suitable pH. In general, the reactions are conducted at a pH of from about 3 to about 10. The reactions can be conducted, for example, at a pH of from about 6.5 to about 9. The reactions can be conducted for any suitable length of time. In general, the reaction mixtures are incubated under suitable conditions for anywhere between about 1 minute and several hours. The reactions can be conducted, for example, for about 1 minute, or about 5 minutes, or about 10 minutes, or about 30 minutes, or about 1 hour, or about 2 hours, or about 4 hours, or about 8 hours, or about 12 hours, or about 24 hours, or about 48 hours, or about 72 hours, or about 96 hours, or about 120 hours, or about 144 hours, or about 168 hours, or about 192 hours. In general, reactions are conducted under aerobic conditions. In some embodiments, the solvent forms a second phase, and the hydroxylation occurs in the aqueous phase. In some embodiments, the hydroxylases is located in the aqueous layer whereas the substrates and/or products occur in an organic layer. Other reaction conditions may be employed in the methods of the invention, depending on the identity of a particular hydroxylase, or olefinic substrate.

Reactions can be conducted in vivo with intact cells expressing a hydroxylase of the invention. The in vivo reactions can be conducted with any of the host cells used for expression of the hydroxylases, as described herein. A suspension of cells can be formed in a suitable medium supplemented with nutrients (such as mineral micronutrients, glucose and other fuel sources, and the like). Hydroxylation yields from reactions in vivo can be controlled, in part, by controlling the cell density in the reaction mixtures. Cellular suspensions exhibiting optical densities ranging from about 0.1 to about 50 at 600 nm can be used for hydroxylation reactions. Other densities can be useful, depending on the cell type, specific hydroxylases, or other factors.

Pheromone Compositions and Uses Thereof

As described above, many of the olefinic alcohol products made via the methods described herein are pheromones. Pheromones prepared according to the methods of the invention can be formulated for use as insect control compositions. The pheromone compositions can include a carrier, and/or be contained in a dispenser. The carrier can be, but is not limited to, an inert liquid or solid.

Examples of solid carriers include but are not limited to fillers such as kaolin, bentonite, dolomite, calcium carbonate, talc, powdered magnesia, Fuller's earth, wax, gypsum, diatomaceous earth, rubber, plastic, silica and China clay. Examples of liquid carriers include, but are not limited to, water; alcohols, such as ethanol, butanol or glycol, as well as their ethers or esters, such as methylglycol acetate; ketones, such as acetone, cyclohexanone, methylethyl ketone, methylisobutylketone, or isophorone; alkanes such as hexane, pentane, or heptanes; aromatic hydrocarbons, such as xylenes or alkyl naphthalenes; mineral or vegetable oils; aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as trichloroethane or methylene chloride; aromatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as chlorobenzenes; water-soluble or strongly polar solvents such as dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, or N-methylpyrrolidone; liquefied gases; and mixtures thereof. Baits or feeding stimulants can also be added to the carrier.

Pheromone compositions can be formulated so as to provide slow release into the atmosphere, and/or so as to be protected from degradation following release. For example, the pheromone compositions can be included in carriers such as microcapsules, biodegradable flakes and paraffin wax-based matrices.

Pheromone compositions can contain other pheromones or attractants provided that the other compounds do not substantially interfere with the activity of the composition. The pheromone compositions can also include insecticides. Examples of suitable insecticides include, but are not limited to, buprofezin, pyriproxyfen, flonicamid, acetamiprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin, acephate, malathion, quinolphos, chloropyriphos, profenophos, bendiocarb, bifenthrin, chlorpyrifos, cyfluthrin, diazinon, pyrethrum, fenpropathrin, kinoprene, insecticidal soap or oil, and mixtures thereof.

Pheromone compositions can be used in conjuction with a dispenser for release of the composition in a particular environment. Any suitable dispenser known in the art can be used. Examples of such dispensers include but are not limited to bubble caps comprising a reservoir with a permeable barrier through which pheromones are slowly released, pads, beads, tubes rods, spirals or balls composed of rubber, plastic, leather, cotton, cotton wool, wood or wood products that are impregnated with the pheromone composition. For example, polyvinyl chloride laminates, pellets, granules, ropes or spirals from which the pheromone composition evaporates, or rubber septa. One of skill in the art will be able to select suitable carriers and/or dispensers for the desired mode of application, storage, transport or handling.

A variety of pheromones, including those set forth in Table 1 can be prepared according to the methods of the invention and formulated as described above. For example, the methods of the invention can be used to prepare peach twig borer (PTB) sex pheromone, which is a mixture of (E)-dec-5-en-1-ol (17%) and (E)-dec-5-en-1-yl acetate (83%). The PTB sex pheromone can be used in conjunction with a sustained pheromone release device having a polymer container containing a mixture of the PTB sex pheromone and a fatty acid ester (such as a sebacate, laurate, palmitate, stearate or arachidate ester) or a fatty alcohol (such as undecanol, dodecanol, tridecanol, tridecenol, tetradecanol, tetradecenol, tetradecadienol, pentadecanol, pentadecenol, hexadecanol, hexadecenol, hexadecadienol, octadecenol and octadecadienol). The polymer container can be a tube, an ampul, or a bag made of a polyolefin or an olefin component-containing copolymer. Sex pheromones of other pest insects such the cotton bollworm ( Helicoverpa armigera ), fall army worm ( Spodoptera frugiperda ), oriental fruit moth ( Grapholita molesta ) and leaf roller (Tortricidae) can be used in this type of sustained pheromone release device. The sex pheromones typically include one or more aliphatic acetate compounds having from 10 to 16 carbon atoms (e.g., decyl acetate, decenyl acetate, decadienyl acetate, undecyl acetate, undecenyl acetate, dodecyl acetate, dodecenyl acetate, dodecadienyl acetate, tridecyl acetate, tridecenyl acetate, tridecadienyl acetate, tetradecyl acetate, tetradecenyl acetate, tetradecadienyl acetate, and the like) and/or one or more aliphatic aldehyde compounds having from 10 to 16 carbon atoms (e.g., 7-hexadecenal, 11-hexadecenal, 13-octadecenal, and the like).

Pheromones prepared according to the methods of the invention, as well as compositions containing the pheromones, can be used to control the behavior and/or growth of insects in various environments. The pheromones can be used, for example, to attract or repel male or female insects to or from a particular target area. The pheromones can be used to attract insects away from vulnerable crop areas. The pheromones can also be used example to attract insects as part of a strategy for insect monitoring, mass trapping, lure/attract-and-kill or mating disruption.

Mass trapping involves placing a high density of traps in a crop to be protected so that a high proportion of the insects are removed before the crop is damaged. Lure/attract-and-kill techniques are similar except once the insect is attracted to a lure, it is subjected to a killing agent. Where the killing agent is an insecticide, a dispenser can also contain a bait or feeding stimulant that will entice the insects to ingest an effective amount of the insecticide.

It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that a variety of different traps are possible. Suitable examples of such traps include water traps, sticky traps, and one-way traps. Sticky traps come in many varieties. One example of a sticky trap is of cardboard construction, triangular or wedge-shaped in cross-section, where the interior surfaces are coated with a non-drying sticky substance. The insects contact the sticky surface and are caught. Water traps include pans of water and detergent that are used to trap insects. The detergent destroys the surface tension of the water, causing insects that are attracted to the pan, to drown in the water. One-way traps allow an insect to enter the trap but prevent it from exiting. The traps of the invention can be colored brightly, to provide additional attraction for the insects.

The trap is positioned in an area infested (or potentially infested) with insects. Generally, the trap is placed on or close to a tree or large plant. The aroma of the pheromone attracts the insects to the trap. The insects can then be caught, immobilised and/or killed within the trap, for example, by the killing agent present in the trap.

Pheromones prepared according to the methods of the invention can also be used to disrupt mating. Strategies of mating disruption include confusion, trail-masking and false-trail following. Constant exposure of insects to a high concentration of a pheromone can prevent male insects from responding to normal levels of the pheromone released by female insects. Trail-masking uses a pheromone to destroy the trail of pheromones released by females. False-trail following is carried out by laying numerous spots of a pheromone in high concentration to present the male with many false trails to follow. When released in sufficiently high quantities, the male insects are unable to find the natural source of the sex pheromones (the female insects) so that mating cannot occur.

Insect populations can be surveyed or monitored by counting the number of insects in a target area (e.g., the number of insects caught in a trap). Inspection by a horticulturist can provide information about the life stage of a population. Knowing where insects are, how many of them there are, and their life stage enables informed decisions to be made as to where and when insecticides or other treatments are warranted. For example, a discovery of a high insect population can necessitate the use of methods for removal of the insect. Early warning of an infestation in a new habitat can allow action to be taken before the population becomes unmanageable. Conversely, a discovery of a low insect population can lead to a decision that it is sufficient to continue monitoring the population. Insect populations can be monitored regularly so that the insects are only controlled when they reach a certain threshold. This provides cost-effective control of the insects and reduces the environmental impact of the use of insecticides.

As will be apparent to one of skill in the art, the amount of a pheromone or pheromone composition used for a particular application can vary depending on several factors such as the type and level of infestation; the type of composition used; the concentration of the active components; how the composition is provided, for example, the type of dispenser used; the type of location to be treated; the length of time the method is to be used for; and environmental factors such as temperature, wind speed and direction, rainfall and humidity. Those of skill in the art will be able to determine an effective amount of a pheromone or pheromone composition for use in a given application.

The present invention will be described in greater detail by way of specific examples. The following examples are offered for illustrative purposes, and are not intended to limit the invention in any manner. Those of skill in the art will readily recognize a variety of noncritical parameters which can be changed or modified to yield essentially the same results.

General Methods.

E. coli heat shock transformation: Heat shock transformation of plasmids/Gibson assembly products/ligation products were performed with competent BL21 (DE3) cells from NEB (C2527H). Set a water bath to 42° C. and remove the SOC media from storage at 4° C. and incubate at 37° C. Remove chemically competent cells from the −80° C. freezer and thaw on ice for 5-10 minutes. Add the DNA solution to be transformed to the cells and tap the tube gently to mix, keep the mixture on ice for 5 more minutes. Submerge the tube containing the cell/DNA mixture in the 42° C. water bath for 10 seconds and quickly place the tubes back on ice for 2 minutes. After the two minute incubation on ice, add 500 μl of SOC recovery media and incubate at 37° C. with 210 rpm shaking for 60 minutes. After incubation, 50-200 μl of the recovered cells are plated on LB/agar plates supplemented with the appropriate antibiotics.

E. coli plasmid isolation: Plasmid isolation of 2.5 ml overnight culture were performed with the SpinSmart™ Plasmid Miniprep DNA Purification kit (Danville Scientific). The overnight culture is collected by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 10 minutes. Resuspend the pellet in 250 μl of P1 buffer and transfer the mixture to a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube. Add 250 μl of P2 buffer and mix by inverting the tube. Add 300 μl of P3 buffer and mix by inverting the tube. Centrifuge the mixture at 14,000 rpm for 5 minutes and transfer the supernatant containing DNA onto a fresh plasmid binding spin column. Bind DNA onto the column by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 30 seconds, followed by washes with 500 μl of P4 wash buffer and 650 μl of P5 wash buffer. Dry the column by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 2 minutes and then discard the collection tube. Place the plasmid binding spind column in a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube. Add 50 μl of warm DI water (50° C.) and centrifuge at 14000 rpm to elute the DNA.

E. coli DNA isolation: DNA fragment isolation from agarose gel was performed with the Zymoclean Gel DNA Recovery Kits (Zymo research). Excise the desired gel fragment using a razor blade and transfer it to a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube. Add 250 μl of ADB to the tube and incubate at 50° C. for 5 to 10 minutes until the gel slice is dissolved. Transfer the melted agarose solution to a Zymo-spin™ column in a collection tube, centrifuge for 30-60 seconds and discard the flow through. Wash the column with 200 μl of DNA wash buffer and centrifuge for 30 seconds. Repeat the wash step. Dry the column by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm for 2 minutes. Place the Zymo-spin™ column in a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube. Add 12 μl of warm DI water (50° C.) and centrifuge at 14000 rpm to elute DNA.

PCR: PCR reactions were performed using Phusion High-Fidelity PCR Master Mix with HF Buffer (NEB: M0531S). In a typical 25 μl PCR reaction, 0.5 μl of the template DNA (plasmid, PCR product, synthesized DNA, etc) is mixed with 1.25 μl of each of the forward and reverse primers (10 mM) along with 0.75 μl of DMSO, 12.5 μl of the Phusion master mix and 8.75 μl of DI water. A typical thermocycler program consists of the follow steps:

SOE-PCR: A typical 50 μl reaction contains (1) 0.5 to 3 μl of each isolated DNA fragment being spliced (2) 2.5 μl of each the forward and reverse primers (10 mM), (3) 1.5 μl of DMSO, (4) 25 μl of Phusion master mix and (5) enough DI water to reach a final total volume of 50 μl. The thermocycler program is modified from that of table # by extending the time of step 3 to 20 seconds.

E. coli biotransformations: Each E. coli strain expressing a terminal hydroxylase as well as the necessary redox partners was cultured in shake flasks to produce cell mass and induce protein expression. At the end of the protein expression phase, the cells were collected by centrifugation and washed with the bioconversion buffer. The washed cells were resuspended in bioconversion buffer to yield a cell density of ˜100 g cell wet weight (g cww)/L. A volume of 1 ml of this cell mixture was transferred to a 20 ml amber vial. The bioconversion was initiated by the addition of 200 μl of a 50/50 (v/v) mixture of substrate and isopropyl alcohol. For E/Z-5-decene and 1-bromodecane, the reactions were quenched after 1 hour with the addition of 100 μl 3 M HCl and analyzed for product formation with GC/FID. For 1-dodecene, 1-dodecyne, and hexadecane, the reactions were quenched after 4 hours with HCl and analyzed with GC/FID.

Example 1. Synthesis of Peach Twig Borer (PTB) Sex Pheromone Using Biocatalytic Terminal Hydroxylation

The PTB pheromone is a mixture of (E)-dec-5-en-1-ol (17%) and (E)-dec-5-en-1-yl acetate (83%). Using a terminal hydroxylase described in Table 3, 4, or 5, (E)-dec-5-ene can be readily converted into (E)-dec-5-en-1-ol, which can be acetylated to yield (E)-dec-5-en-1-yl acetate, as shown in Scheme 22. A suitable terminal hydroxylase enables this original synthesis route and reduces the synthesis cost of this pheromone.

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Although the foregoing has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, one of skill in the art will appreciate that certain changes and modifications can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents, patent applications, and sequence accession numbers cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

AlkB construct for DNA synthesis

Oligonucleotide Name: 1406_provivi 023

SEQ ID NO: 1

AlkB P1 construct for DNA synthesis

Oligonucleotide Name: 1406_provivi 024

SEQ ID NO: 2

AlkB1A.p. construct for DNA synthesis

Oligonucleotide Name: 1406_provivi 025

SEQ ID NO: 3

AlkB2A.p. construct for DNA synthesis

Oligonucleotide Name: 1406_provivi 026

SEQ ID NO: 4

Fwd primer for alkB constructs

Oligonucleotide Name: oPV001

SEQ ID NO: 5

Rev primer for alkB constructs

Oligonucleotide Name: oPV002

SEQ ID NO: 6

Fwd primer from alkG

Oligonucleotide Name: oPV003

SEQ ID NO: 7

Rev primer from alkG

Oligonucleotide Name: oPV004

SEQ ID NO: 8

Fwd primer from SfiI

Oligonucleotide Name: oPV005

SEQ ID NO: 9

CYP52A13 forward primer

Oligonucleotide Name: OPV 0042

SEQ ID NO: 10

CYP52A13/A3 reverse primer

Oligonucleotide Name: OPV 0043

SEQ ID NO: 11

CYP52A3 forward primer

Oligonucleotide Name: OPV 0044

SEQ ID NO: 12

DNA sequence of the linearized construct for

expressing CYP52A3/CPR used for genome

integration

SEQ ID NO: 13

DNA sequence of the linearized construct for

expressing CYP52A13/CPR used for genome

integration

SEQ ID NO: 14