Beyond Flavoproteins: Toward the Industrialization of Photobiocatalysis

Abstract

Photobiocatalysis merges enzymatic selectivity with the synthetic versatility of light, enabling complex transformations under mild, aqueous conditions. However, advances in this field remain primarily focused on the adaptation of native flavoproteins and known oxidoreductases, such as ene-reductases, with limited exploration of non-natural cofactors or engineered proteins. This perspective examines the current progress in photobiocatalysis, in addition to design constraints that limit the scope of photobiocatalysis, including narrow cofactor compatibility, short excited-state lifetimes, and the instability of enzyme–chromophore systems under irradiation. We highlight the overreliance on a s..