Amidase process

In the fine chemicals industry, enantiomerically pure amino acids are mainly produced by the aminoacylase process, the amidase process, and the hydantoinase/ carbamoylase process, all three of which are suitable for I- and D-amino acids. Dehydrogenases and transaminases are now becoming established for reduction processes. 

Figure 7.13 Amidase process from DSM to L-amino acids.

Several multi-ton industrial processes still use enzymatic resolution, often with lipases that tolerate different substrates. BASF, for example, makes a range of chiral amines by acylating racemic amines with proprietary esters. Only one enantiomer is acylated to an amide, which can be readily separated from the unreacted amine. Many fine chemicals producers also employ acylases and amidases to resolve chiral amino acids on a large scale. l-Acylases, for example, can resolve acyl d,l-amino acids by producing the I-amino acids and leaving the N-acyl-l-amino acid untouched after separation, the latter can be racemized and returned to the reaction. d-Acylase forms the alternative product. Likewise, DSM and others have an amidase process that works on the same principle d,l-amino acid amides are selectively hydrolyzed, and the remaining d-amino acid amide can be either racemized or chemically hydrolyzed. 

It should also be noted that at DSM this amidase process has been extended towards the synthesis of optically active a,a-disubstituted amino acids. For example, the antihypertensive drug L-methyl-dopa, l-10, has been produced successfully (Fig. 8) [14, 15]. 

Fig. 7 The DSM amidase process for enantiomerically pure a-amino acids.

Recent patents and pubHcations describe process improvements. Conversions can be followed by on-line hplc (93). The enzyme amidase can be used to reduce residual monomers (94—96). A hydrogenation process for reduction of acrylamide in emulsions containing more that 5% residual monomer has been patented (95). Biodegradable oils have been developed (97). 

There are two distinct classes of enzymes that hydrolyze nitriles. Nittilases (EC 3.5.5. /) hydrolyze nittiles directiy to corresponding acids and ammonia without forming the amide. In fact, amides are not substrates for these enzymes. Nittiles also may be first hydrated by nittile hydratases to yield amides which are then converted to carboxyUc acid with amidases. This is a two-enzyme process, in which enantioselectivity is generally exhibited by the amidase, rather than the hydratase. 

To accelerate the polymerization process, some water-soluble salts of heavy metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Pb) are added to the reaction system (0.01-1% with respect to the monomer mass). These additions facilitate the reaction heat removal and allow the reaction to be carried out at lower temperatures. To reduce the coagulate formation and deposits of polymers on the reactor walls, the additions of water-soluble salts (borates, phosphates, and silicates of alkali metals) are introduced into the reaction mixture. The residual monomer content in the emulsion can be decreased by hydrogenizing the double bond in the presence of catalysts (Raney Ni, and salts of Ru, Co, Fe, Pd, Pt, Ir, Ro, and Co on alumina). The same purpose can be achieved by adding amidase to the emulsion. 

L-Amino adds could be produced from D,L-aminonitriles with 50% conversion using Pseudomonas putida and Brembacterium sp respectively, the remainder being the corresponding D-amino add amide. However, this does not prove the presence of a stereoselective nitrilase. It is more likely that the nitrile hydratase converts the D,L-nitrile into the D,L-amino add amide, where upon a L-spedfic amidase converts the amide further into 50% L-amino add and 50% D-amino add amide. In this respect the method has no real advantage over the process of using a stereospecific L-aminopeptidase (vide supra). 

The assessment of clearance is complicated by the numerous mechanisms by which compounds may be cleared from the body. These mechanisms include oxidative metabolism, most commonly by CYP enzymes, but also in some cases by other enzymes including but not limited to monoamine oxidases (MAO), flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMO), and aldehyde oxidase [45, 46], Non-oxidative metabolism such as conjugation or hydrolysis may be effected by enzymes such as glucuronyl transferases (UGT), glutathione transferases (GST), amidases, esterases, or ketone reductases, as well as other enzymes [47, 48], In addition to metabolic pathways, parent compound may be excreted directly via passive or active transport processes, most commonly into the urine or bile. 

Shaw, N.M., Naughton, A., Robins, K., et al. (2002) Selection, purification, characterisation, and cloning of a novel heat-stable stereo-specific amidase from Klebsiella oxytoca, and its application in the synthesis of enantiomerically pure (R)- and (S)-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionic acids and (S)-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionamide. Organic Process Research Development, 6, 497-504. 

An alternative two-step biocatalytic route, first developed at Glaxo in the 1970s, utilized a D-amino acid oxidase and an amidase to provide 7-ACA under physiological conditions (Scheme 1.12). This process has since been established in several companies, with minor modifications. In fact, 7-ACA was manufactured by GSK at Ulverston (Cumbria, UK) using both the chemical and biocatalytic processes in parallel for a period of 2 years during which time the environmental benefits of the biocatalytic process were assessed (see Section 1.6). 

Scheme 6.7). Penicillin G amidase from Mcaligenes faecalis, which is used in the manufacture of semisynthetic penicillins and cephalosporins, was used in both steps to afford a one-pot cascade process [21]. The acylation was performed in an aqueous medium at pH 10-11 and, after separation of the remaining amine enantiomer, the acylated amine was hydrolyzed with the same enzyme by lowering the pH to 7. 

Genetic engineering techniques to improve penicillin amidase yields during fermentation are now employed thereby reducing biocatalyst process costs. 

Amidases have also proved useful in other processes, such as in the production of p-hydroxyphenylglycine (see elsewhere in this chapter) and in the selective hydrolysis of... 

Penicillin amidase is used industrially to produce 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) from penicillin G or V (see section 4.5). Acid is produced during the process and this will inactivate the enzyme. One way of overcoming this problem is by using a fixed bed reactor with immobilized enzyme. The substrate is pumped very rapidly... 

This may be illustrated by the following process, catalyzed by penicillin amidases (EC 3.5.1.1 1) from various sources... 

The optimum yield of a condensation product is obtained at the pH where Ka has a maximum. For peptide synthesis with serine proteases this coincides with the pH where the enzyme kinetic properties have their maxima. For the synthesis of penicillins with penicillin amidase, or esters with serine proteases or esterases, the pH of maximum product yield is much lower than the pH optimum of the enzymes. For penicillin amidase the pH stability is also markedly reduced at pH 4-5. Thus, in these cases, thermodynamically controlled processes for the synthesis of the condensation products are not favorable. When these enzymes are used as catalysts in thermodynamically controlled hydrolysis reactions an increase in pH increases the product yield. Penicilhn hydrolysis is generally carried out at pH about 8.0, where the enzyme has its optimum. At this pH the equiUbrium yield of hydrolysis product is about 97%. It could be further increased by increasing the pH. Due to the limited stability of the enzyme and the product 6-aminopenicillanic acid at pH>8, a higher pH is not used in the biotechnological process. 

A key step in the synthesis of the /3-lactamase inhibitor cilastatin (Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany) is the preparation of (S)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxamide. The chemically synthesized corresponding nitrile, l-cyano-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane, is hydrolyzed by a highly active but enanhounspecific nitrile hydratase to the racemic carboxamides. An amidase from Comomonas acidovorans overexpressed in E. coli selectively hydrolyzes the undesired (R)-isomer to the acid. The remaining (S) enantiomer is obtained with > 99% e.e. and 48% conversion (the resulting E value thus exceeds 100). The (R)-acid is recycled by chemical amidation with thionyl chloride and ammonia. The process has been developed by Lonza (Visp, Switzerland) and runs on a 15 m3 scale (Rasor, 2001). 

An example of a very efficient asymmetric transformation is the preparation of (W)-phcnylgly-cine amide (Scheme 7.8) (see also Chapter 25).40 This offers a good alternative to the enzymatic resolution of (fCS )-phcnylglycinc amide with the (S)-specific amidase from Pseudomoms putida.41 This amide is used in a coupling process for semi-synthetic antibiotics.42... 

Previous efforts have failed to identify an enzyme with robust Ceph C amidase activity. Some glutaryl-7-ACA acylases can directly convert Ceph C to 7-ACA, but they do so with very poor efficiency and have not been considered for a single-enzyme manufacturing process.30-33 Nonetheless, glutary 1-7-AC A acylases with measurable activity on Ceph C are classified as cephalosporin C acylases. Mutagenesis approaches such as ePCR have been used in an attempt to improve the activity of these enzymes on Ceph C, but only marginal improvements in the desired activity have... 

The serine hydrolase family is one of the largest and most diverse classes of enzymes. They include proteases, peptidases, lipases, esterases, and amidases and play important roles in numerous physiological and pathological process including inflammation [53], angiogenesis [54], cancer [55], and diabetes [56]. This enzyme family catalyzes the hydrolysis of ester, thioester, and amide bonds in a variety of protein and nonprotein substrates. This hydrolysis chemistry is accomplished by the activation of a conserved serine residue, which then attacks the substrate carbonyl. The resulting covalent adduct is then cleaved by a water molecule, restoring the serine to its active state [57] (Scheme 1). 

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