1,4-Butanediol

1,4-Butanediol (1,4-BDO) is an important raw material in manufacturing spandex, plastics, elastic fibers, and films. Besides, 1,4-butanediol can be used as a starting chemical for other derivatives like tetrahydrofuran (THF) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). As global policy decisions have been orienting toward sustainable strategies aiming to: (i) reduce fossil fuel dependency and linked environmental impacts; and (ii) generate new economy, bio-based succinate is receiving increasing attention as a potential intermediary feedstock for replacing a large petrochemical-based bulk chemical market.

Synthesis of 1,4-Butanediol

Nowadays, in the petrochemical industry, 1,4-butanediol can be produced also in different ways from maleic anhydride, propylene oxide and butadiene. While the 1,4-butanediol can either be obtained via hydrogenation of succinic acid or direct fermentation of sugars through experimental metabolic engineered bacterial platform. The basic biosynthesis pathway of 1,4-butanediol is showed in figure 1.

The bio-based succinic acid can be converted to 1,4-butanediol by catalytic hydrogenation process under high pressure. Hydrogenation of succinic acid to 1,4-butanediol occurs via a two-step process: (i) succinic acid is first transformed into gamma-butyrolactone by hydrogenation and then (ii) 1,4-butanediol or tetrahydrofuran is formed through successive hydrogenation of gamma-butyrolactone with selective metal catalysts.

Fig. 1 Basic biosynthesis pathway of 1,4-Butanediol

Compared with the hydrogenation pathway, direct fermentation pathway is claimed as an effective advantageous alternative over the succinic acid route, with a lower risk of market fragmentation and competition, due to the use of more abundant feedstock. For example, 1,4-butanediol can be produced by introducing a synthetic pathway in Escherichia coli and engineering its xylose catabolism, as shown in figure 2.

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of a novel 1,4-butanediol pathway from xylose and native competing pathways in E. coli. Genes: xylA: encoding xylose isomerase; xylBC: encoding xylose dehydrogenase; xylD: encoding xylonate dehydratase; kivD: encoding alpha-ketoisovalerate decarboxylase; yqhD: encoding alcohol dehydrogenase; ppdA-C-B: encoding diol dehydratase; yagE or yjhH: encoding aldolase

Our 1,4-Butanediol

Our biosynthetic 1,4-butanediol is made from bio-based succinic acid by esterification, hydrogenation, purification and other processes and the content of bio-carbon is more than 80%.

Alfa Chemistry is a professional supplier of biosynthetic 1,4-butanediol. For high quality products, professional technical service, use suggestion and latest industry news, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Wang J, Jain R, Shen X, et al. Rational engineering of diol dehydratase enables 1,4-butanediol biosynthesis from xylose. Metab Eng. 2017 Mar;40: 148-156.

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