Terminal Alkenes from Acrylic Acid Derivatives via Non‐Oxidative Enzymatic Decarboxylation by Ferulic Acid Decarboxylases

Fungal ferulic acid decarboxylases (FDCs) belong to the UbiD‐family of enzymes and catalyse the reversible (de)carboxylation of cinnamic acid derivatives through the use of a prenylated flavin cofactor. The latter is synthesised by the flavin prenyltransferase UbiX. Herein, we demonstrate the applicability of FDC/UbiX expressing cells for both isolated enzyme and whole‐cell biocatalysis. FDCs exhibit high activity with total turnover numbers (TTN) of up to 55000 and turnover frequency (TOF) of up to 370 min(−1). Co‐solvent compatibility studies revealed FDC's tolerance to some organic solvents up 20 % v/v. Using the in‐vitro (de)carboxylase activity of holo‐FDC as well as whole‐cell biocatalysts, we performed a substrate profiling study of three FDCs, providing insights into structural determinants of activity. FDCs display broad substrate tolerance towards a wide range of acrylic acid derivatives bearing (hetero)cyclic or olefinic substituents at C3 affording conversions of up to >99 %. The synthetic utility of FDCs was demonstrated by a preparative‐scale decarboxylation.