Bioproduction of 4-vinylphenol from corn cob alkaline hydrolyzate in two-phase extractive fermentation using free or immobilized recombinant E. coli expressing pad gene

• 4-VP showed inhibition effect on recombinant E. coli with PAD gene.
• Alkaline hydrolyzates of corn cobs were a good source of p-coumaric acid.
• Extractive fermentation allowed to recover 4-VP during fermentation.
• It is possible to use immobilized cells to produce 4-VP by extractive fermentation.

In situ extractive fermentation was used to produce 4-vinyl derivatives from hydroxycinnamic acids extracted from corn cobs by recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing Lactobacillus plantarum phenolic acid descarboxylase (PAD) gene. This microorganism mainly produced 4-vinylphenol (4VP) from p-coumaric acid (p-CA). In the first study , we observed that the concentrations of 4VP are higher than 1 g/L which had a negative impact on decarboxylation of p-CA to 4VP by recombinant E. coli cells. Because of this, and in order to improve the downstream process, a two-phase aqueous-organic solvent system was developed. The results of the extractive fermentation indicated that it was possible to use hydrolyzates as aqueous phase to bioproduce 4VP, and recover simultaneously the product in the organic phase containing hexane. The detoxification of pre-treated corn cob alkaline hydrolyzate improved 4VP production up to 1003.5 mg/L after 24 h fermentation (QP = 41.813 mg/L h). Additionally, preliminary experiments using cells immobilized in calcium alginate showed to be a good system for the biotransform of p-CA to 4VP in extractive fermentation, although the process hindered partially the recovery of 4VP in the organic phase.