More efficient than photosynthesis! New progress in precise synthesis of hexose from carbon dioxide in China | Biology | China
Sugar is an important substance in human production and life, as well as a key raw material for industrial and biological manufacturing today. It is not easy to achieve efficient and precise artificial sugar production. Recently, the technology of artificial transformation of carbon dioxide to accurately synthesize sugar from scratch, developed by Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made new progress. This research achievement efficiently and accurately achieves the artificial synthesis of hexose, providing strong support for the creation of structurally and functionally diverse sugar products using carbon dioxide.
Hexose, also known as hexose, is a monosaccharide containing six carbon atoms. Hexose is widely distributed and abundant in nature, and is closely related to the nutritional metabolism of the body. Common glucose, fructose, and galactose in daily life belong to hexose. The traditional process of converting carbon dioxide to biomass resources and sugar is limited by the energy conversion efficiency of plant photosynthesis. In the context of global warming, extreme weather, and frequent natural disasters, the production methods relying on past sugar biomass resources face supply security and risks.
In order to achieve more efficient and accurate artificial sugar production, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed the technology of artificial conversion of carbon dioxide to accurately synthesize sugar from scratch through a chemical enzyme coupled artificial synthesis system. This technology is more efficient and precise than natural photosynthesis for sugar synthesis, and the steps are simpler, achieving precise control of the synthesis of different structures and functions of hexose. Its carbon conversion rate is higher than traditional plant photosynthesis, as well as chemical sugar production and electrochemical biological coupling artificial sugar production methods. It is currently the highest level of carbon conversion efficiency in artificial sugar production routes.
Yang Jiangang, associate researcher of Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that this research is equivalent to providing a route that does not depend on land or planting, and is a synthetic route that does not exist in nature. It has a shorter route, requires less energy, is more efficient, and can precisely control the configuration of the product, improve product selectivity, and reduce the separation cost in the later stage.
It is understood that future research teams can further synthesize compounds such as oligosaccharides, glycosides, or polyols through this technology, obtaining sugar molecules that are rare or even non-existent in nature, and using them as raw materials in fields such as food, medicine, and biological manufacturing.