Ketones degradation with loss

Carboxylic acids from methyl ketones Degradation with loss of 1 C atom... 

Degradation of ketones with loss of 2 carbon atoms... 

A bacterial isolate APN has been shown to convert a-aminopropionitril enantioselectively to L-alanine (94% yield, 75% e e). However, the major disadvantage of this approach, is the low stability of most aminonitriles in water (for example a-aminophenylacetonitrile in water of pH 7, degrades completely within 48 hours). The aminonitriles are always in equilibrium with the aldehyde or ketone and ammonia/HCN. Polymerisation of hydrogen cyanide gives an equilibrium shift resulting in the loss of the aminonitrile. Therefore, a low yield in amino adds is to be expected, which makes this method less attractive for the industrial synthesis of optically active amino adds. 

The DTA of the PVA-PEG beads (Fig. 2a) shows three endothermic peaks at 51, 221 and 317 °C. The first one is associated with the loss of physisorbed water. The other two peaks are assigned to evolution of water and other volatile compounds (aldehydes, ketones and ethers), as a result of the thermal degradation of the PVA and PEG [12]. 

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