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Fungal Production of INNOVATION PROJECTS
6 pentyl-a-pyrone IIT DELHI

Varsha Kumari, Prof. Atul Narang, Dr. Haider Ali
IIT Delhi

Trichoderma species are known for their capability of
producing several volatile compounds. One such compound
is 6 pentyl-α-pyrone (6pap or 6pp), a lactone or cyclic ester.
It is a high value compound and has several applications. Its
use as flavoring agent (because of the characteristic coconut
smell), antimicrobial compound in agriculture field and recent
findings in developing certain compounds including jet fuel
from 6pp make it an important platform chemical. Today 6pp
is being produced chemically but chemical synthesis of 6pp is
a difficult approach, it requires high temperature of around
400 °C and is a multi-step process. Producing 6pp biologically
will help in making the procedure ecofriendly and cost
effective. Hence the objective behind the project was to find
out economically feasible method for the biological
production of 6pp.