Wedde, SeverinSeverinWeddeRommelmann, PhilippPhilippRommelmannScherkus, ChristianChristianScherkusSchmidt, SandySandySchmidtBornscheuer, Uwe TheoUwe TheoBornscheuerLiese, AndreasAndreasLieseGröger, HaraldHaraldGröger2019-08-222019-08-222017-01-06Green Chemistry 5 (19): 1286-1290 (2017-06-01)http://hdl.handle.net/11420/3158A novel synthetic route towards the polymer poly-ε-caprolactone based on a chemoenzymatic reaction sequence was developed. Initial hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanol gave a crude product, which was directly used without work-up for a subsequent biocatalytic double oxidation towards ε-caprolactone by means of an alcohol dehydrogenase and a monooxygenase. In order to overcome product inhibition effects, an in situ-product removal strategy via extraction of ε-caprolactone from an aqueous reaction medium with an organic solvent in the presence of a permeable polydimethylsiloxane membrane was applied. Furthermore, this in situ-product removal was combined with lipase-catalyzed polymerization in the organic phase at 25 °C. The obtained crude product contained a polymer fraction with a degree of polymerization comparable to commercial poly-ε-caprolactone.en1463-92702017512861290RSCChemieIngenieurwissenschaftenJournal Article10.1039/c6gc02529cOther