Enzymatic Synthesis of a-Hydroxy Acids

To date, this reaction cascade has no direct enantioselective chemo-catalytic equivalent. It is therefore a welcome addition to synthetic organic chemistry. Moreover, nitrile hydratases can potentially be used in this reaction, too, expanding its scope even further. 

Enzymatic Synthesis of Aldols (/MHydroxy Carbonyl Compounds) 

Dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) is the donor ketone that is utilized by the DHAP-dependent aldolases. These aldolases come under the class of lyases, just like the hydroxynitrile lyases (see Section 5.2.1.1). As for the HNLs, no cofactor 

A significant drawback of the DHAP-dependent aldolases is that DHAP cannot be replaced by dihydroxyacetone. DHAP is expensive and it is labile at neutral and basic pH values. It can be synthesized chemically, however the procedures are not very atom efficient. Therefore alternative enzyme-catalyzed approaches have been developed. A variety of them can be performed in the 

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