Chinese scientists have achieved precise total synthesis from carbon dioxide to sugar
The latest research results published by the famous academic journal "Science Bulletin" on the 15th show that Chinese scientists have achieved precise total synthesis from carbon dioxide to sugar in the laboratory, and synthetic sugar has taken a key step.
A sample of synthetic hexose solution taken in the laboratory of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (taken on August 13). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fanyue
Sugar is the main source of energy needed by the body. Synthetic sugar is the direction that the scientific community has been pursuing in recent years, and before that, many scientists around the world have made different degrees of contributions.
The research results were completed by the scientific research teams of Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences after more than two years. Yang Jiangang, the first author of the paper, introduced that the team prepared high-concentration carbon dioxide and other raw materials in the reaction solution in a certain proportion, and obtained four kinds of hexose under the action of chemical catalyst and enzyme catalyst, glucose, allulose, tagnose and mannose. Hexose is a general term for sugars that are widely distributed in nature and are most closely related to the body's nutrient metabolism.
In the laboratory of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the scientific research team is doing experiments on synthetic hexose (photographed on August 13). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sun Fanyue
The reaction time of the whole set of experiments is about 17 hours. Compared with the traditional method of extracting sugar from crops such as sugar cane, the time taken to obtain sugar has been leapfrogging from "years" to "hours".
The efficiency of this sugar synthesis is 0.67 grams per liter per hour, which is more than 10 times higher than the known results. The carbon fixation synthesis efficiency of glucose reached 59.8 nanomoles of carbon per minute per milligram of catalyst, which is the highest level of artificial sugar production at home and abroad.
In the laboratory of the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, associate researcher Yang Jiangang is doing an experiment on synthetic hexose (photographed on August 13). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Liwang
The research also achieved precise control of synthetic sugars. "By controlling the different catalytic effects of different enzymes, it is theoretically possible to synthesize almost any type of sugar." Yang Jiangang said.
Manfred Reitz, an academician of the German Academy of Sciences, commented on the paper that converting from carbon dioxide to sugar is particularly challenging. This achievement provides a flexible, versatile and efficient route to sugar synthesis, opening the door to green chemistry.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Reporter: Mao Zhenhua, Wang Jinghuai
Executive producers: Xu Rui, Cao Xiaoxuan
Editors: Ma Xiaoju, Wu Yue
Internship: Zhou Jiajun