Process for preparing optically active cyanohydrins with enzymes
AssigneeFMC Corporation
InventorsStephen W. Andruski, Bruce Goldberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The reaction time and ease of handling of reactants in the known process of forming optically active (S)-cyanohydrins by reacting aldehydes with hydrocyanic acid in the presence of the enzyme S-oxynitrilase and a solvent may be significantly improved over the known methods when the solution of aldehydes and acid is passed through a porous membrane comprising a polymeric resinous binder having finely divided filler particles dispersed throughout the binder to which the S-oxynitrilase enzyme has been chemically bound.
Claims11
In the process for the preparation of optically active (S)-cyanohydrins by the reaction of an aldehyde with hydrocyanic acid by contacting an organlc solvent containing the acid and aldehyde with the enzyme S-oxynitrilase, the improvement wherein the enzyme is chemically bound to an insoluble composite comprising a porous membrane through which the reactants are passed, said porous membrane comprising a polymeric resinous binder having finely divided filler particles dispersed throughout said binder and a network of substantially interconnected pores formed therein, the porous membrane being pervious to the flow of a fluid containing said reactants.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.