Moses Adondua Abah1,2, Adeyinka Ademilua3, Grace Amankwah Wilson3, Micheal Abimbola Oladosu2,4 and Ochuele Dominic Agida1,2

1ResearchHub Nexus Institute, Nigeria, 1Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biosciences, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria

2ResearchHub Nexus Institute, Nigeria

3Department of Chemistry, North Carolina A&T State University, USA

4Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria

(✉) Corresponding Author: m.abah@fuwukari.edu.ng

Received: Sept 12, 2025/ Revised: Oct 13, 2025/Accepted: Oct 20, 2025

Highlights 

  • Comprehensive overview of enzyme classes enabling selective organic transformations

  • Mechanistic insights into enzyme-driven chemo-, regio-, and enantioselectivity

  • Advances in protein engineering, AI design, and cofactor recycling expand biocatalytic scope

  • Industrial applications demonstrate improved sustainability and process efficiency

  • Emerging trends include chemo-enzymatic cascades and synthetic biology platforms

Abstract

Biocatalysis has emerged as a transformative platform in modern organic synthesis, enabling highly selective, efficient, and sustainable routes to complex molecules that are challenging or inefficient by conventional methods. This review synthesizes current knowledge on enzyme-catalyzed reactions spanning hydrolases, oxidoreductases, transferases, lyases, isomerases, and ligases and examines how these catalyst classes enable hydrolysis/esterification, asymmetric redox chemistry, group transfer (including transamination and glycosylation), stereoselective C–C bond construction, rearrangements, and ATP-dependent ligations. Emphasis is placed on the mechanistic bases for the exceptional chemo-, regio- and enantioselectivity of enzymes and on practical considerations that govern their use in non-native synthetic contexts (stability, solvent compatibility, cofactor requirements, and kinetics). The review details contemporary strategies that have expanded enzymatic utility directed evolution and rational protein engineering, AI-guided design, cofactor engineering and recycling, immobilization, solvent engineering, and continuous-flow/process intensification and connects these advances to tangible industrial impact in pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, flavors, and bio-based materials. Life-cycle and process-metric perspectives illustrate the sustainability advantages of biocatalytic routes, particularly in atom economy, waste reduction, and energy efficiency, while acknowledging persistent challenges such as enzyme cost, substrate scope limitations, and scale-up constraints. Finally, we identify emergent directions likely to shape the field: integrated chemo-enzymatic cascades, cell-free multi-enzyme systems, AI-driven discovery pipelines, and synthetic-biology-enabled production platforms. Collectively, these developments position biocatalysis as a central pillar of future sustainable chemical manufacturing and a fertile area for interdisciplinary research and industrial deployment.

Keywords: Biocatalysis, Enzyme catalysis, Organic synthesis, Green chemistry, Enantioselectivity and Sustainable catalysis

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How to cite this article

Abah, M. A., Ademilua, A., Wilson, G. A., Oladosu, M. A., & Agida, O. D. (2025). Biocatalysis in organic synthesis: A review of enzyme-catalyzed reactions and their applications. Chemical and Environmental Science Archives, 5(3), 22–34. https://doi.org/10.47587/CESA.2025.5301

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