Nitrilase activity hydrolysis

The degradation of nitriles by nitrilases (EC 3.5.5.1) has been the subject of intense study, especially as it relates to the preparation of the commodity chemical acrylamide. Nitrilases catalyze the hydrolysis of nitriles to the corresponding acid plus ammonia (Figure 1 reaction 5), whereas nitrile hydratases (EC 4.2.1.84) add water to form the amide. Strains such as Rhodococcus rhodo-chrous Jl, Brevibacterium sp., and Pseudomonas chlororaphis have been used to prepare acrylamide from acrylonitrile, which contain the hydratase and not nitrilase activity [12]. A comparison of these strains has been discussed elsewhere [98]. Other uses of nitrilases, however, have primarily been directed at resolution processes to stereoselectively hydrolyze one enantiomer over another or regiose-lectively hydrolyze dinitriles [99-101]. 

Mahadevan and Thimann [43] postulated the first nitrilase reaction mechanism, suggesting that the nitrile carbon present in the substrate displays a partial positive charge that is subjed to nudeophihc attack by one of the two SH groups in the nitrilase active site. The resulting thioimidate is then hydrolyzed to a thioester, with the release of ammonia as a by-product Hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme then results in the release of the final acid product. 

Nitrilases catalyze the synthetically important hydrolysis of nitriles with formation of the corresponding carboxylic acids [4]. Scientists at Diversa expanded the collection of nitrilases by metagenome panning [56]. Nevertheless, in numerous cases the usual limitations of enzyme catalysis become visible, including poor or only moderate enantioselectivity, limited activity (substrate acceptance), and/or product inhibition. Diversa also reported the first example of the directed evolution of an enantioselective nitrilase [20]. An additional limitation had to be overcome, which is sometimes ignored, when enzymes are used as catalysts in synthetic organic chemistry product inhibition and/or decreased enantioselectivity at high substrate concentrations [20]. 

The biocatalytic differentiation of enantiotopic nitrile groups in prochiral or meso substrates has been studied by several research groups. For instance, the nitrilase-catalyzed desymmetrization of 3-hydroxyglutaronitrile [92,93] followed by an esterification provided ethyl-(Jl)-4-cyano-3-hydroxybutyrate, a useful intermediate in the synthesis of cholesterol-lowering dmg statins (Figure 6.32) [94,95]. The hydrolysis of prochiral a,a-disubstituted malononitriles by a Rhodococcus strain expressing nitrile hydratase/amidase activity resulted in the formation of (R)-a,a-disubstituted malo-namic acids (Figure 6.33) [96]. 

There are two pathways for the degradation of nitriles (a) direct formation of carboxylic acids by the activity of a nitrilase, for example, in Bacillus sp. strain OxB-1 and P. syringae B728a (b) hydration to amides followed by hydrolysis, for example, in P. chlororaphis (Oinuma et al. 2003). The monomer acrylonitrile occurs in wastewater from the production of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and is hydrolyzed by bacteria to acrylate by the combined activity of a nitrilase (hydratase) and an amidase. Acrylate is then degraded by hydration to either lactate or P-hydroxypropionate. The nitrilase or amidase is also capable of hydrolyzing the nitrile group in a number of other nitriles (Robertson et al. 2004) including PAN (Tauber et al. 2000). 

In summary, the formation of optically active compounds through hydrolysis reactions is dominated by biocatalysis mainly due to the availability and ease of use of a wide variety of esterases, lipases and (to a lesser extent) acylases. Epoxide ring-opening (and related reactions) is likely to be dominated by salen-metal catalysts while enzyme-catalysed nitrile hydrolysis seems destined to remain under-exploited until nitrilases or nitrile hydratases become commercially available. 

In the screening of genomic libraries prepared from environmental samples collected in various parts of the world, more than 200 new nitrilases were discovered that allow mild and selective hydrolysis of nitriles (150). One of them catalyzes the (J )-selective hydrolysis of 35 with an ee value of 94.5% at a substrate concentration of 100 mM (46). However, when experiments were done at a more practical concentration of 2.25 M, activity and enantioselectivity suffered (ee only 87.8%). 

The nitrile group is a versatile building block, in particular since it can be converted into acids or amides. It undergoes hydrolysis but requires relatively harsh reaction conditions. Nature provides two enzymatic pathways for the hydrolysis of nitriles. The nitrilases convert nitriles directly into acids, while the nitrile hy-dratases release amides. These amides can then be hydrolysed by amidases (see also above). Often nitrile hydratases are combined with amidases in one host and a nitrile hydratase plus amidase activity can therefore be mistaken as the activity of a nitrilase (Scheme 6.32). A large variety of different nitrilases and nitrile hydratases are available [100, 101] and both types of enzyme have been used in industry [34, 38, 94]. 

Cyanide hydratase and cyanide dihydratase belongs to the nitrilase branch of nitrilase superfamily, using HCN as the only efficient substrate and producing amide and acid products, respectively. Microorganisms appear in fact to have evolved separate metabolic pathways for the hydrolysis of inorganic cyanide. Thus, most nitrilases (as well as nitrile hydratases) till now investigated do not display activity... 

BhaUa, T.C., Miura, A., Wakamoto, A., et al. 1992. Asymmetric hydrolysis of a-aminonitriles to optically active amino acids by a nitrilase of Rhodoccocus rhodocrous PA-34. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 37 184—90. 

The enzymatic hydrolysis of a broad range of nitriles to the corresponding amides and acids is documented [35]. These conversions are effected directly by nitrilases or by successive action of a nitrile hydratase and an amidase. Most of these enzymes are usually unstable and whole-cell preparations are preferred. However, recently a purified nitrile hydratase preparation without amidase activity was shown to convert several 2-arylpropionitriles enantioselectively to the corresponding optically active amides (eq. (3)) [36]. 

In recent years, the enantioselective hydrolysis of nitriles has been studied in more detail. Whereas in the past only whole cell catalysts had been investigated, it is now possible to assign the activities to specific enzymes occurring in the cell. These enzymes are nitrilases, nitrile hydratases and/or amidases. 

Typical commercial enzymes reported for resolution of amino acids were tested. Whole cell systems containing hydantoinase were found to produce only a-monosubstituted amino acids" the acylase-catalyzed resolution of Xacyl amino acids had extremely low rates toward a-dialkylated amino acids and the nitrilase system obtained from Novo Nordisk showed no activity toward the corresponding 2-amino-2-ethylhexanoic amide. Finally, a large-scale screening of hydrolytic enzymes for enantioselective hydrolysis of racemic amino esters was carried out. Of all the enzymes and microorganisms screened, pig hver esterase (PLE) and Humicola langinosa lipase (Lipase CE, Amano) were the only ones found to catalyze the hydrolysis of the substrate (Scheme 9.6). 

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