Biocatalytic process for production of α-glucosylglycerol using sucrose phosphorylase.

Summary Glycosylglycerols are powerful osmolytes, produced by various plants, algae and bac-teria in adaptation to salt stress and drought. Among them, glucosylglycerol (2- O -a- D -glu-copyranosyl- sn -glycerol; GG) has attracted special attention for its promising applicationas a moisturizing agent in cosmetics. A biocatalytic process for the synthesis of GG as in-dustrial fine chemical is described in which sucrose phosphorylase (from Leuconostoc me-senteroides ) catalyzes regioselective glucosylation of glycerol using sucrose as the donorsubstrate. The overall enzymatic conversion, therefore, is sucrose+glycerol®GG+ D -fructose.Using a twofold molar excess of glycerol acceptor in highly concentrated substrate solu-tion, GG yield was 90 % based on ³250 g/L of converted sucrose. Enzymatic GG produc-tion was implemented on a multihundred kg-per-year manufacturing scale, and a com-mercial product for cosmetic applications is distributed on the market under the nameGlycoin ® . Technical features of the biotransformation that were decisive for a successfulprocess development are elaborated. Stabilization of proteins is another interesting field ofapplication for GG.