Chemie IOCB News

"Green Chemistry"

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:11:02 +0200

"Metathesis in water conducted by tailor-made encapsulated Grubbs' catalyst" - behind these technical terms lies not only the title of a specialist article, but also a successful collaboration between Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (FH Bielefeld) and Bielefeld University. The article is a joint publication by doctoral student Jan Pauly and his supervisors Prof. Dr Anant Patel (Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences) and Prof. Dr Harald Gröger (Bielefeld University) on the encapsulation of a chemical catalyst in biopolymer hydrogels. The article was published in November in the renowned journal Green Chemistry (impact factor 8.586). A joint article on the encapsulation of an enzyme (biocatalyst) was previously published in the Journal of Biotechnology in August.

[Article]

Consortium develops alternative molecules for the plastics industry

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:09:46 +0200

The Organic Chemistry I research group at Bielefeld University, the Institute of Technical Biocatalysis at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and BASF SE are working as a consortium to develop a novel alternative to conventional plasticisers in PVC. The joint project "Bioplasticisers" was developed as part of the ideas competition "New Products for the Bioeconomy" funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The aim is to develop plasticiser molecules for products that protect people and the environment.

[Article]

Development of bio-based plasticizers based on biorenewable feedstocks together with Hamburg University of Technology and BASF SE within a BMBF-funded research project

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:08:43 +0200

In cooperation with the research group of Prof. Dr. Andreas Liese from Hamburg University of Technology and the chemical company BASF SE, our research group has developed a novel-type of sustainable plasticizers based on renewable raw materials. Today, in total more than nine million metric tons of plasticizers are produced worldwide each year, and the product class of phthalates accounts for more than half of the manufacturing volume. At the same time, such phthalates are produced from fossil feedstocks. In addition, some of the phthalate-based plasticizers pose health risks by, for example, affecting the hormone balance in humans. These health risks led to the regulation of certain representatives of this class of substances in the EU. The new generation of plasticizers developed jointly by the project partners is derived from renewable sources such as, for example, sugar-based waste streams. Thus, this approach fulfills the principle of a circular economy. In addition, for the synthesis of the new plasticizer molecules straightforward and atom-economical reaction technologies were utilized such as, e.g., the Diels-Alder reaction. Initial application tests of the plasticizer showed promising performance data in many respects. This research project “BioPlasticizers” was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with around 600,000 euros, and these results have now been published in the journal European Journal of Organic Chemistry, which lists this article as an outstanding study ("Very Important Paper").

[Article]

Penicillin-based antibiotics

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:05:19 +0200

Penicillin-based antibiotics contain a five-membered hydrocarbon ring in which a sulphur and a nitrogen atom are also incorporated. Nadine Zumbrägel, PhD student at the Chair of Organic Chemistry I at Bielefeld University, has succeeded in selectively producing this important substructure with different residues on this ring using a biotechnological method. The targeted design of such structures now enables the creation of substance libraries of so-called heterocycles, which can be used by the pharmaceutical industry to find new active ingredients in the future. In addition to Bielefeld Chemistry, two scientists from Ruhr University Bochum were also involved in the research. The researchers, with Zumbrägel as first author and Professor Dr Harald Gröger, Head of the Chair of Organic Chemistry I and corresponding author, are presenting their research results today (16 May 2018) in the renowned journal "Nature Communications".

[Article]

Poster Award

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:04:07 +0200

Jana Löwe won the molecular catalysis poster award for her poster entitled, "Replacing co-substrates by carbon dioxide, water and light: A novel perspective towards bulky amines" at the 1st Biocascades Symposium & 8th International Cebitec Research Conference 2018 (ICRC 2018).

Poster Award granted

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:02:57 +0200

During a SusChemSys 2.0 meeting at the RWTH Aachen on the 6th of April, Alessa Hinzmann and Tobias Betke were awarded both with a Poster Award out of 25 different posters for their contributions to the meeting. The committee og the award consisted of several industrial partners within the SusChemSys 2.0 cluster, which encourages us to pursue our focus on the process development for biocatalysis even further in the future.

Hajime-Hoshi-Price

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 13:02:00 +0200

On 27 January, the German-Japanese Society Bielefeld (DJG) awarded the Hajime Hoshi Prize 2017 to biotechnologist Keiko Oike (27) from the Faculty of Chemistry at Bielefeld University. Keiko Oike was honoured for her outstanding scientific achievements and her commitment to supporting and integrating Japanese guest students. Gesa Neuert, President of the DJG Bielefeld, presented the certificate for the 1,000 euro prize. Keiko Oike comes from Toyama, on the north coast of Japan, and completed her Bachelor's and Master's degree in Biotechnology at Toyama Prefectural University, for which she received the university's best student award in 2013. Since 2016, she has been working on her doctorate in the field of biocatalysis in Professor Dr Harald Gröger's research group at Bielefeld University. The Hajime Hoshi Prize, awarded jointly by the DJG Bielefeld and Bielefeld University for the third time, is named after the important Japanese science patron Hajime Hoshi (1873 to 1951).

[Article]

Green Chemistry

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:48:42 +0200

Producing the active ingredient for a drug is a complex and lengthy endeavour: It often requires around a dozen production steps, reaction stages in which the respective product has to be isolated, separated and purified again and again. "This should and can be done in a more environmentally friendly way," says Prof Dr Harald Gröger from Bielefeld University.

[Article]

Visiting professorship in Japan

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:43:36 +0200

Professor Dr Harald Gröger from the Faculty of Chemistry at Bielefeld University has been awarded a visiting professorship at Osaka University, Japan. He will be in Japan in October and November. He will be conducting research at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University and will present his work in several lectures. During his guest professorship, he will also give lectures at other Japanese universities, for example at universities in Kyoto, Tottori, Chiba, Tokyo/Yokohama and Toyama.

[Article]

BMBF-Research grant 1.1 million euros for novel chemoenzymatic one-pot processes

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:41:15 +0200

For their joint research on combining the two "worlds" chemo- and biocatalysis towards novel types of chemoenzymatic one-pot processes, the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) supports the Hummel group (University of Düsseldorf) and Gröger group (Bielefeld University) with 1.1 million euros grant within the funding initiative "Next Generation of Biotechnology Precedures - Biotechnology 2020+".

Otto Roelen Medal for Harald Gröger

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:39:22 +0200

Professor Dr Harald Gröger from Bielefeld University has been awarded the Otto Roelen Medal 2014 by DECHEMA and the German Catalysis Society in recognition of his work on the coupling of chemo- and biocatalytic reaction steps in the enantioelective synthesis of drug building blocks. By combining chemical and biotechnological processes, Harald Gröger links two worlds that were previously considered separately.

13th International CeBiTec Symposium “Multi-Step Syntheses in Biology & Chemistry - An International Young Investigator Conference”

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:38:11 +0200

Biocatalysis is one of the key technologies, that will shape not only the industrial landscape, but also our daily lives in the future. This interdisciplinary field of research, which combines biology and chemistry, opens great perspectives for basic research as well as industrial applications. This was part of the occasion of the 13th International CeBiTec Symposium “Multi-Step Syntheses in Biology & Chemistry - An International Young Investigator Conference” that was held at Bielefeld University on December 2019. Head speakers have been Prof. Shuji Akai from the Osaka University in Japan, Dr. Daniel Fitzpatrick from the University of Cambridge, Prof. Julia Frunzke from the Research center Jülich and Dr. Matthias Höhne from the University of Greifswald. Fields of tailor-made bio-catalyst design and applications thereof, combination of biocatalysis and chemocatalysis and synthetic biology towards multi-step syntheses from both, an academic and industrial perspective, were part of this symposium. In addition, emerging recent trends mostly done so far out of the area of biocatalysis, which, however, are expected to have a strong impact on biocatalysis in the future will be addressed such as, for example, flow-chemistry, machine learning self-automatization. A further focus of this symposium were contributions of young researchers to present their research achievements and latest results in the plenum as well as lectures and poster presentations. They had the opportunity to present their work and to discuss on the future prospects of biocatalysis in order to promote the networking of the next generation of biocatalysis researchers.

Neue Methode für sichere Herstellung von Nylon-Vorstufe (Nr. 143/2018)

Chemie IOCB News — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:35:37 +0200

Bielefelder Forscher entwickeln umweltschonendes Verfahren Der Kunststoff Nylon ist allgegenwärtig. Ob Regenschirme, Strumpfhosen oder Küchenhelfer: Sie haben alle gemeinsam, dass sie aus Nylon gefertigt sind. Um Nylon zu produzieren, braucht die Industrie die Chemikalie Adiponitril – jedes Jahr mehr als eine Million Tonnen weltweit. Noch wird hochgiftige Blausäure verwendet, um Adiponitril zu erzeugen. Chemiker der Universität Bielefeld wollen das ändern. Sie stellen heute (30.11.2018) im Fachmagazin „Nature Communications“ eine Methode vor, die anstelle von Blausäure ein Enzym nutzt, um diese Verbindung herzustellen. In Kombination mit anderen Verfahren eröffnet diese Biokatalyse-Reaktion eine Perspektive, zukünftig die Nylon-Vorstufe umweltschonend ausgehend von Kohlendioxid und Sonnenlicht zu produzieren.

Prof. Dr. Harald Gröger und sein Mitarbeiter Tobias Betke haben eine Methode entwickelt, die dazu beiträgt, Nylon aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen herzustellen. Foto: Universität Bielefeld

„Die derzeitige Herstellungsmethode für Adiponitril hat sich zwar seit Jahrzehnten bewährt und ist mit hohen Sicherheitsstandards verbunden“, sagt Professor Dr. Harald Gröger, einer der Autoren der Studie und Leiter der Forschungsgruppe Organische Chemie I der Universität Bielefeld. „Die Verwendung von Blausäure bleibt aber ein Risiko. Wenn schon bei den Grundstoffen der Produktion auf giftiges Material verzichtet wird, kommt solch ein Risiko gar nicht erst auf“, ergänzt Gröger.

Nylon wird in einem mehrstufigen Verfahren hergestellt. Adiponitril ist nötig, um den Nylon-Grundstoff Hexamethylendiamin zu erzeugen. „Wir verwenden ein Enzym, also einen Katalysator aus der Natur, um Adiponitril herzustellen“, sagt Tobias Betke, Erstautor der Studie und wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in Grögers Forschungsgruppe. Das Enzym namens Aldoximdehydratase kann in gut zugänglicher Weise durch Fermentation hergestellt werden und erlaubt eine umweltschonende Herstellung von Adopinitril. „So entsteht in kürzester Zeit und auf effiziente Weise Adiponitril. Das Verfahren hat eine hohe Raum-Zeit-Ausbeute, was bedeutet, dass es nicht nur schnell, sondern auch sehr ergiebig ist“, sagt Harald Gröger. „Die Reaktion braucht zudem wenig Energie. Sie verläuft bei Raumtemperatur im Wasser.“

Harald Gröger sieht die neue Methode überdies als Beitrag zum Ansatz, die Abhängigkeit von Erdöl zu vermindern und die Rohstoffversorgung auf eine breite Basis zu stellen. Die Unternehmen Evonik, Siemens und Covestro haben kürzlich eine Methode vorgestellt, mit der sich Kohlendioxid mit Sonnenenergie zur Basischemikalie 1-Hexanol umwandeln lässt. „Darauf aufbauend kann unsere Methode als einer von mehreren Zwischenschritten dienen, um von 1-Hexanol zu Adiponitril als eine der Vorstufen von Nylon zu gelangen.“

Die Studie wurde vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung über das Programm „Biotechnologie 2020+, Nächste Generation biotechnologischer Verfahren“ gefördert (Fördernummer: 031A184A).

Originalveröffentlichung:

Tobias Betke, Manuel Maier, Heidrun Gruber-Wölfler, Harald Gröger: Biocatalytic production of adiponitrile and related aliphatic linear α,ω-dinitriles. Nature Communications, http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07434-0 , erschienen am 30.November 2018.

Kontakt:

Prof. Dr. Harald Gröger, Universität Bielefeld

Fakultät für Chemie, Organische Chemie I

Telefon: 0521 106-2057, -6920 (Sekretariat)

E-Mail: harald.groeger@uni-bielefeld.de