The methane monooxygenase of methanotrophs is capable of catalyzing propene to produce epoxypropane directly in one step

without formation of by-products except water.Compared with the chemical synthesis method for production of epoxypropane

the biosynthesis has promising potential due to the mild reaction conditions

high selectivity and environmental friendliness.In this paper

the conditions were optimized for production of epoxypropane from propene with Methylosinus trichosporim OB3b whole cells cultivated by the traditional method

including temperatures

initial propene concentrations

sodium formate and MgCl2 concentrations

which are important factors affecting the epoxypropane biosythesis.Based on the optimization results

the performance of epoxypropane production carried out with M. trichosporium OB3b of high cell density was investigated

which was obtained by a novel rapid cultivation method developed by the authors.The final concentration of epoxypropane was almost four times of the highest productivity reported so far.