Nitrile-converting enzymes aliphatic

The preferred substrates of enantioselective nitrile-converting enzymes are arenes or aliphatic compounds with long (more than three carbons) or branched carbon chains. These bulky substrate moieties seem to be a prerequisite for the stereospecific recognition by nitrile-converting enzymes. 

Nitrilase [EC 3.5.5.1], also known as nitrile aminohy-drolase and nitrile hydratase, catalyzes the hydrolysis of a nitrile to produce a carboxylate and ammonia. The enzyme acts on a wide range of aromatic nitriles. Nitrile hydratase [EC 4.2.1.84], also known as nitrilase, catalyzes the hydrolysis of a nitrile to produce an aliphatic amide. The enzyme acts on short-chain aliphatic nitriles, converting them into the corresponding acid amides. However, this particular enzyme does not further hydrolyze these amide products nor does the enzyme act on aromatic nitriles. 

A strategy to access lactones via enzymatic hydrolysis of y- and /3-hydroxy aliphatic nitriles to their corresponding acids with subsequent internal esterification was applied using commercially available enzymes from BioCatalytics Inc. A number of y- and /3-hydroxy aliphatic nitrile substrates (Table 8.11) were evaluated, with the greatest selectivity observed with y-hydroxy nonanitrile, which was converted by nitrilase NIT1003 to the precursor of the rice weevil pheromone in 30% yield, 88% ee with an enatiomeric ratio of = 23 [90],... 

Aliphatic nitriles are often metabolized in two stages. First they are converted to the corresponding carboxamide by a nitrile hydratase and then to the carboxylic acid by an amidase enzyme (a protease) [626]. 

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