Pseudomonas putida amidase

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). 

DSM developed a slightly different approach towards enantiopure amino acids. Instead of performing the Strecker synthesis with a complete hydrolysis of the nitrile to the acid it is stopped at the amide stage. Then a stereoselective amino acid amidase from Pseudomonas putida is employed for the enantioselective second hydrolysis step [83], yielding enantiopure amino acids [34, 77, 78]. Although the reaction is a kinetic resolution and thus the yields are never higher than 50% this approach is overall more efficient. No acylation step is necessary and the atom efficiency is thus much higher. A drawback is that the racemisation has to be performed via the Schiff s base of the D-amide (Scheme 6.23). 

In a related fashion, a-aminonitriles are enzymatically hydrolyzed to yield a-amino acids (Scheme 2.108). Whereas the enantiorecognition in Brevibacter-ium imperiale or Pseudomonas putida occurs through an amidase [689, 690], Rhodococcus rhodochrous PA-43, Acinetobacter sp. APN, dinA Aspergillus fumi-gatus possess enantiocomplementary nitrilases [689, 691, 692]. 

Amidases are also applied for the chiral resolution of racemic amino acid amides to allow the biocatalytic synthesis of nonnatural i.-amino acids, which are important building blocks for pharmaceuticals. An amidase (EC 3.5.1.4) from Pseudomonas putida has been developed for the kinetic resolution of a wide range of amino acid amides (Schmid et al. 2001). 

L-a-Amino acids have been prepared by the resolution of racemic a-amino acid amide by the L-specific aminopeptidase from Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12633 [7]. Enzyme from R putida ATCC 12633 cannot be used to resolve a-alkyl-substituted amino acid amides 103. Aminoamidase from Mycobacterium neoaurum ATCC 25795 has been used in the preparation of L-a-alkyl amino acid 104 (Fig. 34) and D-amide of a-alkyl-substituted amino acids by enzjmaatic resolution process using racemic a-alkyl amino acid amide as a substrate [169,179]. Amidase from Ochrobactrum anthropi catalyzed the resolution of a,a-disubsituted amino acids, iV-hydroxy amino acids, and a-hydroxy acid amides. The resolution process could lead to the production of chiral amino acids or amides in 50% yield. Recently, amino acid racemases have been used to get 100% yield of chiral amino acids [179]. 

Together with R. rhodochrous ATCC 21197 [43] and Pseudomonas putida NRRL 18668 [51], also Rhodococcus sp. C3II md Rhodococcus erythropolis MP 50 were used for the enantiospecific preparation of (S)-naproxen [65]. Rhodococcus sp. C3II lacks a nitrilase but exhibits nitrile hydratase and amidase activities, both of which are constitutive and prefer the (5 )-enantiomers of naproxen derivatives. On the other hand, the enzymes from R. erythropolis MP 50 were induced by nitriles and its nitrile hydratase was (R)-specific [44]. Due to the presence of a strictly (5)-specific amidase, both strains finally formed (5)-naproxen with high enantioselectivity (Fig. 18). Evidence for the enantioselectivity of the nitrile hydratases of both strains was obtained by the formation of optically active amides in the presence of the amidase inhibitor diethyl phosphoramidate [63,65]. The nitrile hydratase of Rhodococcus sp. C3II whole cells was used for the sjmthesis of (>S)-naproxen amide with 94% e.e. after 30% conversion in the presence of the amidase inhibitor [63]. In addition, the highly stereoselective amidases of these two strains were used to prepare (5)-ketoprofen (Fig. 28), and the amidase from R. erythropolis MP 50 was used to prepare (5)-2-phenylpropionic acid with more than 99% e.e. and more than 49% conversion [66,67]. 

Figure 22 Fonnation of L-a-amino acids by L-selective amidases from Brevibacterium sp. R312 and a Pseudomonas putida strain.

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