Racemic amines using transaminases

The late 1990s saw the development of an alternative methodology for the enzymatic resolution of racemic amines using transaminases. Transaminases are pyridoxal phosphate 50 dependent enzymes that catalyze the transfer of an amine group to a carbonyl compound (amine group acceptor), such as a ketone, aldehyde, or keto add (Figure 14.19). 

Truppo, M.D., N.J. Turner, and J.D. Rozzell, Efficient kinetic resolution of racemic amines using a transaminase in combination with an amino acid oxidase. Chem. Commun., 2009(16) 2127-2129. 

In 2008, Hanson et al. identified an (S) amine transaminase from Bacillus mega terium that was used for the preparation of (H) 1 cyclopropylethylamine 51 and R) sec butylamine 52 by resolution ofthe racemic amines [31]. Pyruvate was used as the amine acceptor (Figure 14.22). 

Figure 14.22 Resolution of racemic chiral amines using a transaminase from 6. megaterium.

Chiral amines have been attracting attention as an important composition, particularly for pharmaceutical products. The organic synthetic methods of optically active amine compounds have been developed through the traditional resolution of racemic amines with the formation of diastereomer salts using an optically active mandelic acid or tartaric acid. Enzymatic synthesis has mainly used lipase and S- or R-stereoselective amine transaminase (AT) [29-31] (Figure 19.7). Turner et al. successfully synthesized chiral (R)- and (S)-amines by kinetic resolution using a combination of stereoselective AT and d- or L-amino acid oxidase (AAOx) [32] (Figure 19.7). However, the theoretical yield of the products has been limited to 50% in the kinetic resolution. 

Among the various enzymes capable of producing optically-active amino acids, transamination reactions, catalyzed by enzymes known as aminotransferases or transaminases, have broad potential for the synthesis of a wide variety of enantio-merically pure (R)- and (S)-compounds containing amine groups. Indeed, various examples of the use of aminotransferases for the production of d- and L-amino acids, both naturally-occurring and non-natural, have been published17 151. In addition, certain aminotransferases have been found to act on amines, and methods for the production of enantiomerically pure amines by transamination have been described116-211. This method allows for yields of up to 100% whereas routes based on hydrolases require external racemization to reach such yield levels. In this section we will focus on the application of aminotransferases. 

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