Enzymatic catalysis as a sustainable approach toward environmental remediation of sulfonamides: Advances, mechanisms, challenges and future perspectives

The extensive use of sulfonamides (SAs) and their incomplete metabolism in organisms have resulted in their widespread occurrence in diverse environmental matrices, posing serious risks to ecosystems and human health. This review addresses these challenges and aims to provide a theoretical basis and technical guidance for the development of efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly enzymatic technologies for the degradation of SAs. We systematically review advances in the use of natural enzymes, including laccases, monooxygenases, and peroxidases, as well as engineered enzymes, for the degradation of SAs, with particular emphasis on their catalytic mechanisms, degradation pathways, and the toxicity of degradation products. Evidence indicates that sites such as N1 and N11, as well as the –SO2–N11H– moiety in SAs molecules, are key reactive sites for enzymatic catalysis, whereas structural differences in R substituents significantly affect degradation efficiency and pathways. Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (T.E.S.T.) analysis indicates that the predicted toxicity of most degradation products is significantly reduced or, in some cases, eliminated. To address the practical challenges of poor enzyme stability and low recovery rates, this review further explores various strategies to enhance performance, including medium optimization, immobilization, directed evolution, and enzyme engineering. Finally, the review highlights the potential of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted rational design to provide new insights into the construction of highly efficient enzymatic catalytic systems.