Potential of Biocatalysis in Organic Solvents

During the past decade much progress has been made in the fundamental understanding of the phenomena that govern biocatalysis in non-conventional media. The factors that affect biocatalytic reactions and the activity and stability of biocatalysts in these reaction media are generally associated with the crucial role of water and the need to keep biocatalysts in their active conformation. For the rational design of biocatalytic processes in the reaction media, discussed in this review, some basic rules have been formulated. These rules may serve as useful tools for future optimization of biocatalysis in nonconventional media and for engineering media for synthetic purposes.