Chemoenzymatic Cyclic Deracemizations

During the past few years great efforts have been made to overcome the 50% threshold of enzyme-catalyzed KRs. Among the methods developed, deracemization processes have attracted considerable attention. Deracemizations are processes during which a racemate is converted into a non-racemic product in 100% theoretical yield without intermediate separation of materials [5]. This chapter aims to provide a summary of chemoenzymatic dynamic kinetic resolutions (DKRs) and chemoenzymatic cyclic deracemizations. 

In Section 5.3.1, chemoenzymatic cyclic deracemizations or stereoinversions are categorized according to the type of substrate, namely amino acids, hydroxy acids,... 

It should be mentioned that the great majority of dynamic kinetic resolutions reported so far are carried out in organic solvents, whereas all cyclic deracemizations are conducted in aqueous media. Therefore, formally, this latter methodology would not fit the scope of this book, which is focused on the synthetic uses of enzymes in non-aqueous media. However, to fully present and discuss the applications and potentials of chemoenzymatic deracemization processes for the synthesis of enantiopure compounds, chemoenzymatic cyclic de-racemizations will also be briefly treated in this chapter, as well as a small number of other examples of enzymatic DKR performed in water. 

An important breakthrough was made very recently in this area. A chemoenzymatic method developed by Turner has allowed the cyclic deracemization of tertiary amines [80]. Enantiopure tertiary amines cannot be obtained via DKR. One of the variants obtained by directed evolution of the monoamine oxidase from Aspergillus niger showed high activity and enantioselectivity toward cyclic tertiary amines (Scheme 5.40). 

The first example of chemoenzymatic DKR of allylic alcohol derivatives was reported by Williams et al. [37]. Cyclic allylic acetates were deracemized by combining a lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis with a racemization via transposition of the acetate group, catalyzed by a Pd(II) complex. Despite a limitation of the process, i.e. long reaction times (19 days), this work was a significant step forward in the combination of enzymes and metals in one pot Some years later, Kim et al. considerably improved the DKR of allylic acetates using a Pd(0) complex for the racemization, which occurs through Tt-allyl(palladium) intermediates. The transesterification is catalyzed by a lipase (Candida antarctica lipase B, CALB) using isopropanol as acyl acceptor (Scheme 5.19) [38]. 

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