Succinate and principal uses

Succinate is a priority chemical target for biosynthesis. It can be used to make non-corrosive products for the airport uses, solvents without toxicity, through plastics, pharmaceuticals and food additives. Succinate is also a priority because some bacteria produce it naturally, so we have a metabolic starting point for large scale fermentation (Luque, 2012).  

 

Succinate is a priority product because some bacteria produce it naturally, so we have a metabolic starting point for large-scale fermentation. Succinic acid (butanedioic acid), is a diprotic, dicarboxylic acid with chemical formula C4H6O4. It is a water-soluble, colorless crystal with an acid taste. The name derives from Latin “succinum”, meaning amber, from which the acid was originally obtained by pulverising and distilling it using a sand bath. It is produced naturally as a product of cellular metabolism. In the chemical industry, it also plays an important role, being a key intermediate component for various products and processes (D. Morán, 2015).

Metabolic engineering incorporates a variety of academic fields to generate high production systems for desired, and largely commercial, products. Many of these products are expensive to produce because the downstream processing and purification is often very complex. High value products such as succinate, ethanol, and lactate are produced from glucose in Escherichia coli, via the anaerobic central metabolic pathway (Dittrich, 2005).

For example, in the industry the succinate is obtaining by biotechnology, same to Bioamber corporation which producer of chemical intermediates that uses sugars instead of fossil fuels and sells competitively priced, sustainable chemicals with strong profit margins and the cleanest environmental footprint in the industry.