Biocatalysis intermediate

Biocatalysis has emerged as an important tool for the enantioselective synthesis of chiral pharmaceutical intermediates and several review articles have been published in recent years [133-137]. For example, quinuclidinol is a common pharmacophore of neuromodulators acting on muscarinic receptors (Figure 6.50). (JJ)-Quinudidin-3-ol was prepared via Aspergillus melleus protease-mediated enantioselective hydrolysis of the racemic butyrate [54,138]. Calcium hydroxide served as a scavenger of butyric acid to prevent enzyme inhibition and the unwanted (R) enantiomer was racemized over Raney Co under hydrogen for recycling. 

The cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin, marketed as Lipitor, is an example where biocatalysis research has been applied extensively and is in industrial use. The enzyme 2-deoxyribose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA) has been a target of directed evolution for the production of atorvastatin intermediates [8,9,71]. DeSantis and coworkers [8,9] used structure-based... 

The complexity of today s pharmaceutical compounds and an increasing awareness of the environmental impact of traditional chemical syntheses have opened the door to biocatalysis. Directed evolution is an integral tool in the development of synthetic enzymes, ensuring they are suitable for use in an industrial setting. The past success of this approach indicates that it will continue to provide many examples of safe and efficient production of chemical intermediates and medical compounds. 

Patel, R.N. (2007) Biocatalysis for synthesis for chiral pharmaceutical intermediates, in Biocatalysis in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries (ed. R.N. Patel), CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 103-158. 

Bergeron S, Chaplin D, Edwards JH, Ellis BS, Hill CL, Holt-Tiffin K, Knight JR, Mahoney T, Osborne AP, Ruecroft G (2006) Nitrilase-catalyzed desym-metrization of 3-hydroxyglutaronitrile preparation of a statin side-chain intermediate. Org Proc Res Dev 10 661-665 Burns M, Weaver J, Wong J (2005) Stereoselective enzymic bioconversion of aliphatic dinitriles into cyano carboxylic acids. WO 2005100580 DeSantis G, Zhu Z, Greenberg W, Wong K, Chaplin J, Hanson SR, Farwell B, Nicholson LW, Rand CL, Weiner DP, Robertson D, Burk MJ (2002) An enzyme library approach to biocatalysis development of nitrilases for enantioselective production of carboxylic acid derivatives. J Am Chem Soc 124 9024-9025... 

Several approaches to statin side-chain intermediates have so far been discussed. Whereas these chemoenzymatic approaches provide clear benefits over the chemical processes, they do not harness the tme potential of biocatalysis as the biotransformations have simply been inserted into the existing chemical route. Wong and co-workers have developed a more biosynthetic-hke approach by using a mutant 2-deoxyiibose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA)... 

The field of biocatalysis in organic media is now of considerable industrial importance, enjoying widespread application, particularly in the preparation of enantiopure intermediates. 

Biocatalysis contributes significantly to the generation of APIs through the supply of chiral building blocks from the fine chemical industry. In contrast, there is a clear underutilization within the pharmaceutical industry, where it could provide more efficient and greener methods of late-stage intermediate and API production. 

Figure 1.13 Status of various biotransformations (not exhaustive). (Reprinted from Pollard, D.J. and Woodley, J.M. Biocatalysis for pharmaceutical intermediates the future is now. Trends Biotechnol. 2007, 25, 66-73 with permission from Elsevier.)...

A strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been recently described, which shows the opposite enantioselectivity, converting racemic arylaminonitriles efficientiy into the D-amino acids. Again, whole-cell biocatalysis worked well, the cells being entrapped in alginate beads. It is unclear whether this biotransformation involves an amide intermediate. 

In summary, the combination of enzymes is advantageous from an enzymol-ogy and reachon engineering point of view. Reaction yields can be increased by avoiding product inhibition of single enzymatic reachons. Product decomposihon (e.g. by hydrolysis) can be overcome by further enzymatic transformahons. Tedious isolation of intermediate products is not necessary. However, both strategies - combinatorial biocatalysis and combinatorial biosynthesis - have their disadvantages. The in vitro approach needs every enzyme to be produced by recombinant techniques and purified in high amounts, which is in some cases difficult to achieve. On the other hand, product isolation from a biotransformation with permeabilized or whole host cells can be tedious and results in low yields. 

In order to provide dTDP-deoxy sugars by combinatorial biocatalysis we have utiHzed the enzymes for the dTDP- 3-L-rhamnose pathway. The successful combination of pathway enzymes with optimized enzyme productivities (amount of product per unit of enzyme) needs a concise kinetic and inhibition analysis. Scheme 5.1 depicts the biosynthetic pathway of dTDP- 3-L-rhamnose with important km and Ki constants. The enzymes RmlA and RmlB are highly controlled by the intermediate, dTDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-a-D-glucose 3, the product 5 or by... 

In order to develop cost-effective and environmentally friendly chemical processes at the industrial scale, it is essential to integrate biocatalysis and modem chemical catalysis to produce manufacturing routes with fewer synthetic steps, reducing waste steams and improving overall synthetic yields. Normally, in these tandem procedures, the initial step is the preparation of the intermediate by... 

An interesting example of biocatalysis and chemical catalysis is the synthesis of a derivative of y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) that is an inhibitor for the treatment of neuropathic pain and epilepsy (Scheme 10.4). The key intermediate is a racemic mixture of cis- and trons-diastereoisomer esters obtained by a hydrogenation following a Horner-Emmons reaction. The enzymatic hydrolysis of both diaste-reoisomers, catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase type B (CALB), yields the corresponding acid intermediate of the GABA derivative. It is of note that both cis- and trans-diastereoisomers of the desired enantiomer of the acid intermediate can be converted into the final product in the downstream chemistry [10]. 

Cephalosporins are -lactam antibiotics that block microbial cell wall synthesis. The original cephalosporin. Cephalosporin C, has only weak antibiotic activity. Therefore much more powerful second generation cephalosporins were developed by side-chain modification. Modifications at Cl are most effective but modifications at position 3 are also important so as to increase in vivo activity. Synthesis of the second generation cephalosporin cefuroxime requires the replacement of the C3 acetoxy side-chain of the precursor with a caibamate group. Chemical methods proceed via a hydroxylated intermediate which causes problems due to a tendency to lactonise at low pHs. Therefore development of a biocatalysis step was initiated in order to achieve selective reaction nnder mild conditions. 

G. W. Matcham and A. R. St. G. Bowen, Biocatalysis for chiral intermediates meeting commercial and technical challenges, Chimica Oggt 1996, (6), 20-24. 

Patel RN (2006) Biocatalysis synthesis of chiral intermediates for pharmaceuticals. Curr OrgChem 10 1289-1321... 

A very recent example, which clearly shows the power and benefit of biocatalysis, is the synthesis of a chiral intermediate for the production of cholesterol-low-... 

High concentrations of the target intermediate (i.e., product of chemistry and reactant of biocatalysis)... 

When, in 1832, Wohler and Liebig first discovered the cyanide-catalyzed coupling of benzaldehyde that became known as the benzoin condensation , they laid the foundations for a wide field of growing organic chemistry [1]. In 1903, Lapworth proposed a mechanistical model with an intermediate carbanion formed in a hydrogen cyanide addition to the benzaldehyde substrate and subsequent deprotonation [2]. In the intermediate active aldehyde , the former carbonyl carbon atom exhibits an inverted, nucleophilic reactivity, which exemplifies the Umpo-lung concept of Seebach [3]. In 1943, Ukai et al. reported that thiazolium salts also surprisingly catalyze the benzoin condensation [4], an observation which attracted even more attention when Mizuhara et al. found, in 1954, that the thiazolium unit of the coenzyme thiamine (vitamin Bi) (1, Fig. 9.1) is essential for its activity in enzyme biocatalysis [5]. Subsequently, the biochemistry of thiamine-dependent enzymes has been extensively studied, and this has resulted in widespread applications of the enzymes as synthetic tools [6]. 

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