Biotransformations of cinnamaldehyde,cinnamic acid and acetophenone with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mucor</Emphasis>

A strain JX23 was isolated from soil and identified as a species of Mucor according to the morphological characteristics and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer sequence and designated as Mucor sp. JX23. Biotransformations of cinnamaldehyde (CMD), cinnamic acid (CMA) and acetophenone (ACP) catalyzed by JX23 were investigated. After JX23 was cultured for 48 h, the substrates CMD, CMA and ACP were added to the growth medium respectively and the products were analyzed by GC–MS and HPLC. Mucor sp. JX23 exhibited considerable redox capability and different catalytic specificity to CMD, CMA and ACP. CMD was selectively hydrogenated to cinnamyl alcohol. CMA was biotransformed to ACP with α, β-oxidation like degradation, and ACP could not be reduced further by JX23. When ACP was added as substrate, it could be asymmetrically reduced to (S)-(−)-1-phenylethyl alcohol (S-PEA) with high stereoselectivity (90%). Further, the biotransformations of different binary mixture substrates with JX23 were also studied. The biocatalytic selectivity depended on the relationship between the binary mixtures in above-mentioned reaction.