Aminoacylase catalyst

A considerable number of industrial bioconversions utilize covalently immobilized biocatalysts. Examples include Penicillin acy-lases V and G, aminoacylases, and aspartase. In some cases the biocatalyst is immobilized through cross-linking and in others the catalyst is captured by a reactive resin. Covalent immobilization often leads to extremely stable catalysts with high potential for reuse and... 

Although, especially for the 1 -isomer, it is possible to use commercial aminoacylases for the purpose, we felt that for the technology to be industrially ready, we had to be assured of the catalyst supply. To achieve this, we wanted to produce the catalyst ourselves and embarked on a program of biocatalyst discovery and development. Through this we identified and characferized our own cloned proprielary 1 - and d-aminoacylase enzymes, which we can now use to manufaclure products in ton quantities if needed. Collaboration with Littlechild at the University of Exeter characterized a particularly useful theromo-stable and therefore robust 1 -aminoacylase from Thermococcus litoralis that can optionally be immobilized to generate a reusable industrial biocatalyst. ... 

III. AMINOACYLASE AS ENANTIOSELECTIVE CATALYST A. a-AmIno Acid as a Building Block... 

The hydrogenation technology is now well established and eminently scalable, and indeed has been used by us to provide a very diverse set of amino acids. However, there are some cases where the use of L-aminoacylase is still the method of choice for inserting the chirality by resolution. These are generally where the side chain is susceptible to further transformation by the chemocatalyst, or where it might poison the catalyst, or where the enamide synthesis is difficult. Enamide hydrogenation substrates are generally synthesized... 

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