Renewable Cofactor regeneratioN by water semi-photoelectrolysis

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and the phosphorylated form NAD(P)H are valuable cofactors in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries for the production of a wide range of chemical compounds and drugs. Their high cost (USD 3,000 and USD 215,000 per mol of NADH and NAD(P)H) prohibits their stoichiometric supply, rendering their recycling as an absolute and urgent necessity. Currently, the purely enzymic recycling of NAD(P)H has several disadvantages, such as complexity in product purification, inability to recycle the enzymes as well as costly downstream separations. In ReCoN a highly efficient and selective regeneration of NAD(P)H is done sustainably by the development of new catalysts, mimicking the functionality of active centers as those in dehydrogenase enzymes. The success of ReCoN is in the rational materials desing, which will allow for catalyst reusability, no by-products formation, therefore no need for energy intensive downstream separations. Ultimately, ReCoN introduces NAD(P)H as an affordable fuel for the production of important chemicals and drugs. For this purpose, an interdisciplinary team is assembled that blends experimental and theoretical chemistry with biology in order to provide fundamental insights on novel inorganic-organic interfaces. The major impact of ReCoN is the establishment of NAD(P)H as a low cost and “green” chemical.