Bio Research Center Company Limited

Shuzo Suzuki

Akira Taoka

Motoyoshi Takagi

Keizo Furuhashi

William Frederick Gauss

Kazumasa Hachikubo

The production of epoxide from .alpha.-olefin or .alpha.,.omega.-diene using an epoxide producing microorganism that belongs to Nocardia genus, wherein said microorganism is cultured aerobically in a medium containing more than one straight-chain .alpha.-olefin and/or straight-chain, .alpha.,.omega.-diene chosen from .alpha.-olefins having 4 to 20 carbon atoms and .alpha.,.omega.-dienes having 4 to 20 carbon atoms, or cells obtained by culturing said microorganism in a medium containing assimilable carbon sources is allowed to react aerobically in a medium containing more than one .alpha.-olefin and/or .alpha.,.omega.-diene selected from said straight-chain .alpha.-olefins and/or .alpha.,.omega.-dienes, and produced .alpha.-epoxide or .alpha.,.omega.-diepoxide or a mixture of these is separated and harvested.

Manufacture of epoxide using a microorganism

Long-chain alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids are prepared from alpha olefins having 10 to 18 carbon atoms by first adapting a microorganism of the Candida lipolytica species to assimilate the alpha olefins in such a way that the so-adapted microorganism produces as the major metabolite of said assimilation alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids having the same number of carbon atoms as the alpha olefins when the adapted microorganism is cultivated in an aqueous nutrient medium containing the alpha olefins. The adaptation procedure comprises first cultivating the Candida lipolytica species in an aqueous nutrient medium containing kerosene boiling range hydrocarbons and then repetitively cultivating in a series of separate successive steps in an aqueous nutrient medium containing an alpha olefin the successive microorganism cultures obtained in the preceding cultivation steps beginning with the culture obtained using the kerosene hydrocarbons as the carbon source.

Method of producing long-chain alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids

Alcohol is manufactured from cellulosic materials by a one-step process involving the simultaneous reaction of a cellulosic material, a cellulase and an alcohol-producing microorganism.

Growing community of inventors

Toda, Japan

Shuzo Suzuki