Incitor, LLC (“Incitor”) is a small business based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Founded in early 2007, the company designs and produces synthetic catalysts that mimic the functionality of enzymes.  These synthetic enzymes are built on nanoscale platforms called “bionanolattices” that provide control over the placement of diverse molecules in three-dimensional space – with accuracy measured in billionths of a meter.  While this ability offers multiple industry solutions, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and vaccines, Incitor is currently focused on generating catalysts for renewable fuels.

Although a number of different technologies have been applied to the generation of renewable fuels, the lowest potential capital cost and energy input to fuel production emerges in the use of enzymes.  Unfortunately, “native” enzymes, or enzymes deriving from genetically engineered micro-organisms, have not yet achieved the efficiency required to make renewable fuels practical long term.  Native enzymes easily breakdown in industrial conditions, have a limited effective operating range, and take years to improve with genetic engineering.

An Incitor bionanolattice synthetic enzyme, however, does not suffer from these limitations due to a completely different underlying structure.  A bionanolattice is based upon three-dimensional cross-linked DNA weaves¹,².  This exceptionally stable platform is studded via a proprietary process with catalytically relevant molecules, allowing the bionanolattice to imitate the active site of a native enzyme.  As the technology allows the absolute control over the selection and placement of the catalytic molecules, Incitor can rapidly generate novel synthetic enzymes in months instead of years using a directed combinatorial chemistry approach.  A few of the multiple benefits of synthetic enzymes include:

• Synthetic enzymes, due to the difference in structure, are inherently more resistant to industrial stresses and function in extremes of temperature, pH, and salinity;
• Synthetic enzymes are inherently more active than native enzymes, as multiple active sites are placed on a single bionanolattice;
• Synthetic enzymes operate at lower temperatures than native enzymes, reducing energy input expenditures;
• Improvements to cost or activity are measured in months using a combinatorial chemistry development approach;
• Incitor’s structures can be targeted to almost any raw material or reaction – they are feedstock and fuel agnostic.

For more information about Incitor or bionanolattices, please Contact Us.