Enzymatic oxydation of phenolic compounds: toward regioselective C-C couplings

International audience ; Phenolic compounds exhibit numerous properties that are of interest to the cosmetic industry such as antiradical, anti-UV and/or antimicrobial activities.1 These activities are also attractive for the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, their rigid backbones have demonstrated added-value in plastics processing.2 Noteworthy, most of these properties could be enhanced further through oligomerization.3,4 In order to conserve the free phenol moieties, C-C coupling should be preferred over the C-O-C ones. One of the most efficient and clean pathways to form such C-C bond is the use of oxidases such as peroxidases and laccases. While the former requires the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the latter only needs oxygen to regenerate their active site. The main drawback of oxidative coupling is its selectivity as reaction proceeds through radical species. This presentation will describe laccase-mediated synthetic strategies that provide various phenolic platform molecules of interest in good to excellent selectivity.