Racemization of a-amino acids

It is well-known that catalytic amounts of aldehyde can induce racemization of a-amino acids through the reversible formation of Schiff bases.61 Combination of this technology with a classic resolution leads to an elegant asymmetric transformation of L-proline to D-proline (Scheme 6.8).62 63 When L-proline is heated with one equivalent of D-tartaric acid and a catalytic amount of n-butyraldehyde in butyric acid, it first racemizes as a result of the reversible formation of the proline-butyraldehyde Schiff base. The newly generated D-proline forms an insoluble salt with D-tartaric acid and precipitates out of the solution, whereas the soluble L-proline is continuously being racemized. The net effect is the continuous transformation of the soluble L-proline to the insoluble D-proline-D-tartaric acid complex, resulting in near-complete conversion. Treatment of the D-proline-D-tartaric acid complex with concentrated ammonia in methanol liberates the D-proline (16) (99% ee, with 80-90% overall yield from L-proline). This is a typical example of a dynamic resolution where L-proline is completely converted to D-proline with simultaneous in situ racemization. As far as the process is concerned, this is an ideal case because no extra step is required for recycle and racemization of the undesired enantiomer and a 100% chemical yield is achievable. The only drawback of this process is the use of stoichiometric amount of D-tartaric acid, which is the unnatural form of tartaric acid and is relatively expensive. Fortunately, more than 90% of the D-tartaric acid is recovered at the end of the process as the diammonium salt that can be recycled after conversion to the free acid.64... 

Hydroxyquinazolin-4-ones (62), which are tautomers of 4-hydroxyquin-azoline 3-oxides (see also 3, Section II,A), were useful catalysts for peptide synthesis when dicyclohexylcarbodiimide was used. They decreased the amount of racemization of a-amino acids during formation of the peptide bond. They are not, however as effective as 3-hydroxy-l,2,3-benzotriazin-4-one. 

Scheme 4.21 Proposed mechanism for the aldehyde-catalysed racemization of a-amino acid esters.

It is important to notice that the united-atom simplification cannot be applied to functional hydrogens which are involved in the formation of a hydrogen hond or a salt bridge. This would destroy interactions important for the structural integrity of the protein. Removing the hydrogen at the u-carbon of the peptide backbone is also dangerous, because it prevents racemization of the amino acid. 

In many cases only the racemic mixtures of a-amino acids can be obtained through chemical synthesis. Therefore, optical resolution (42) is indispensable to get the optically active L- or D-forms in the production of expensive or uncommon amino acids. The optical resolution of amino acids can be done in two general ways physical or chemical methods which apply the stereospecific properties of amino acids, and biological or enzymatic methods which are based on the characteristic behavior of amino acids in living cells in the presence of enzymes. 

The importance of chemical syntheses of a-amino acids on industrial scale is limited by the fact that the standard procedure always yields the racemic mixture (except for the achiral glycine H2N-CH2-COOH and the corresponding amino acid from symmetrical ketones R-CO-R). A subsequent separation of the enantiomers then is a major cost factor. Various methods for the asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acids on laboratory scale have been developed, and among these are asymmetric Strecker syntheses as well. ... 

Some workers avoid delay. Pai)adium-on-carbon was used effectively for the reductive amination of ethyl 2-oxo-4-phenyl butanoate with L-alanyl-L-proline in a synthesis of the antihyperlensive, enalapril maleate. SchifTs base formation and reduction were carried out in a single step as Schiff bases of a-amino acids and esters are known to be susceptible to racemization. To a solution of 4,54 g ethyl 2-oxO 4-phenylbutanoate and 1.86 g L-alanyl-L-proline was added 16 g 4A molecular sieve and 1.0 g 10% Pd-on-C The mixture was hydrogenated for 15 hr at room temperature and 40 psig H2. Excess a-keto ester was required as reduction to the a-hydroxy ester was a serious side reaction. The yield was 77% with a diastereomeric ratio of 62 38 (SSS RSS)((55). 

In 1983, Yamada et al. developed an efficient method for the racemization of amino acids using a catalytic amount of an aliphatic or an aromatic aldehyde [50]. This method has been used in the D KR of amino acids. Figure 4.25 shows the mechanism of the racemization of a carboxylic acid derivative catalyzed by pyridoxal. Racemization takes place through the formation of Schiff-base intermediates. 

Racemic a-amino amides and a-hydroxy amides have been hydrolyzed enantio-selectively by amidases. Both L-selective and o-selective amidases are known. For example, a purified L-selective amidase from Ochrobactrum anthropi combines a very broad substrate specificity with a high enantioselectivity on a-hydrogen and a,a-disubstituted a-amino acid amides, a-hydroxyacid amides, and a-N-hydroxya-mino acid amides [102]. A racemase (a-amino-e-caprolactam racemase, EC 5.1.1.15) converts the o-aminopeptidase-catalyzed hydrolysis of a-amino acid amides into a DKR (Figure 6.38) [103]. 

In many cases, the racemization of a substrate required for DKR is difficult As an example, the production of optically pure cc-amino acids, which are used as intermediates for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and as chiral synfhons in organic chemistry [31], may be discussed. One of the important methods of the synthesis of amino acids is the hydrolysis of the appropriate hydantoins. Racemic 5-substituted hydantoins 15 are easily available from aldehydes using a commonly known synthetic procedure (Scheme 5.10) [32]. In the next step, they are enantioselectively hydrolyzed by d- or L-specific hydantoinase and the resulting N-carbamoyl amino acids 16 are hydrolyzed to optically pure a-amino acid 17 by other enzymes, namely, L- or D-specific carbamoylase. This process was introduced in the 1970s for the production of L-amino acids 17 [33]. For many substrates, the racemization process is too slow and in order to increase its rate enzymes called racemases are used. In processes the three enzymes, racemase, hydantoinase, and carbamoylase, can be used simultaneously this enables the production of a-amino acids without isolation of intermediates and increases the yield and productivity. Unfortunately, the commercial application of this process is limited because it is based on L-selective hydantoin-hydrolyzing enzymes [34, 35]. For production of D-amino acid the enzymes of opposite stereoselectivity are required. A recent study indicates that the inversion of enantioselectivity of hydantoinase, the key enzyme in the... 

During the synthesis of glycopeptides, Pavia and coworkers had to confront the proposition that racemization of the amino acids may occur during either the peptide-coupling stage, or the glycosylation stage, or both. This presented a potential problem that had to be resolved. 

A practical enzymatic procedure using alcalase as biocatalyst has been developed for the synthesis of hydrophilic peptides.Alcalase is an industrial alkaline protease from Bacillus licheniformis produced by Novozymes that has been used as a detergent and for silk degumming. The major enzyme component of alcalase is the serine protease subtilisin Carlsberg, which is one of the fully characterized bacterial proteases. Alcalase has better stability and activity in polar organic solvents, such as alcohols, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, etc., than other proteases. In addition, alcalase has wide specificity and both l- and o-amino acids that are accepted as nucleophiles at the p-1 subsite. Therefore, alcalase is a suitable biocatalyst to catalyse peptide bond formation in organic solvents under kinetic control without any racemization of the amino acids (Scheme 5.1). 

The Schiff base can undergo a variety of reactions in addition to transamination, shown in Fig. 6.4 for example, racemization of the amino acid via the a-deprotonated intermediate. Many of these reactions are catalyzed by metal ions and each has its equivalent nonmetallic enzyme reaction, each enzyme containing pyridoxal phosphate as a coenzyme. Many ideas of the mechanism of the action of these enzymes are based on the behavior of the model metal complexes. 

The polymerization of enantiomerically pure monomers presents no relevant stereochemical problems when the asymmetric carbon atom is not involved in the reaction and no new centers of stereoisomerism are formed. This is the case, for example, in polycondensation of chiral diacids with diamines (274) and in ring-opening polymerization of substituted lactams (275) and A -carboxyanhy-drides of a-amino acids (276). Interest here lies mainly in the properties of the polymer. Accidental racemization may sometimes occur but is not necessarily related to the mechanism of polymerization. 

The utilization of a-amino acids and their derived 6-araino alcohols in asymmetric synthesis has been extensive. A number of procedures have been reported for the reduction of a variety of amino acid derivatives however, the direct reduction of a-am1no acids with borane has proven to be exceptionally convenient for laboratory-scale reactions. These reductions characteristically proceed in high yield with no perceptible racemization. The resulting p-amino alcohols can, in turn, be transformed into oxazolidinones, which have proven to be versatile chiral auxiliaries. Besides the highly diastereoselective aldol addition reactions, enolates of N-acyl oxazolidinones have been used in conjunction with asymmetric alkylations, halogenations, hydroxylations, acylations, and azide transfer processes, all of which proceed with excellent levels of stereoselectivity. 

Saturated 5(4//)-oxazolones are easily obtained from //-acylamino acids in the presence of a cyclization agent and have been used extensively in coupling reactions as synthetic equivalents of a-amino acids in the synthesis of peptides. In this context, tautomeric equilibrium can be a significant problem due to the racemization associated with the isomerization. For example, trifluoroacetylation of tryptophan in ether affords the 5(4//)-oxazolone 5 without racemization. However, upon dissolution in acetonitrile, 5 completely racemizes. Further, upon heating, an aqueous dioxane solution of 5 cleanly isomerizes to the isomeric 5(2//)-oxazolone 6 (Scheme 7.2). 

In analogy to the carboxylate binding by zinc-containing cyclodextrin 10 (see Sect. 2), Lewis acidic centers such as a copper(II) histamine unit may also serve for the chelation of the (deprotonated) 2-aminoacetate substructure of a-amino acids [51], Rizzarelli, Marchelli et al. used a respective j8-cyclodextrin derivative for the formation of the ternary complexes 36 and 37 with racemic... 

The racemization of an amino acid provides a biochemical example that can be related directly to Eq. 6-9. A solution of an L-amino acid will be efficiently changed into the racemic mixture of 50% d and 50% l by the action of an enzyme (a racemase) with no uptake or evolution of heat. Thus, AH = 0 and the only change is an entropy change. Let us designate 2 for the pure isomer as 2. Since there are just two choices of configuration for each of the N molecules in 1 mole of the racemate we see that for the racemate... 

It is well over 40 years since Pfeiffer discovered that certain reactions of a-amino acid esters, in particular, ester exchange, racemization and oxygenation, are effected very readily when their Schiff bases with salicylaldehyde are complexed to a transition metal ion (most notably Cu11). The Schiff bases result from a condensation reaction between a reactive carbonyl group and the amino group of the amino acids. Snell and his co-workers43 were also one of the first to point out that similar reactions also occurred if pyridoxal was used instead of salicylaldehyde, and that there is a close analogy with pyridoxal phosphate-promoted enzymic reactions of a-amino acid metabolism. Since then much work has been due on these and other similar systems and their reactivities. 

Careful inspection of the reported photocatalytic reactions may demonstrate that reaction products can not be classified, in many cases, into the two above categories, oxidation and reduction of starting materials. For example, photoirradiation onto an aqueous suspension of platinum-loaded Ti02 converts primary alkylamines into secondary amines and ammonia, both of which are not redox products.34) ln.a similar manner, cyclic secondary amines, e.g., piperidine, are produced from a,co-diamines.34) Along this line, trials of synthesis of cyclic imino acids such as proline or pipecolinic acid (PCA) from a-amino acids, ornithine or lysine (Lys), have beer. successfuL35) Since optically pure L-isomer of a-amino acids are available in low cost, their conversion into optically active products is one of the most important and practical chemical routes for the synthesis of chiral compounds. It should be noted that l- and racemic PCA s are obtained from L-Lys by Ti02 and CdS photocatalyst, respectively. This will be discussed later in relation to the reaction mechanism. 

Attempts to synthesize C-terminal peptide aldehydes using other reductive techniques are less successful. 24"29 The reduction of a-amino acid esters with sodium amalgam and lithium aluminum hydride reduction of tosylated a-aminoacyldimethylpyrazoles resulted in poor yields. 26,29 The Rosemond reduction of TV-phthaloyl amino acid chlorides is inconvenient because the aldehyde is sensitive to hydrazine hydrate that is used to remove the phthaloyl group. 27 28 jV -Z-Protected a-aminoacylimidazoles, which are reduced to the corresponding aldehydes using lithium aluminum hydride, are extremely moisture sensitive and readily decomposed. 25 The catalytic reduction of mixed carbonic/carboxylic acid anhydrides, prepared from acylated a-amino acids, leads to poor reproducibility and low yields. 24 The major problems associated with these techniques are overreduction, racemization, and poor yields. 

An improved procedure for condensation of dithioesters with a-amino groups of amino acids has been used to prepare several peptide thioamidesJ8 The N-protected amino acid dithioesters condense with alkali salts of a-amino acids, catalyzed by alkali fluoride in EtOH, to give the endothiopeptides within 60 minutes. Under these conditions, the thioamides are obtained without racemization. 

Kinetic resolution of chiral, racemic anhydrides In this process the racemic mixture of a chiral anhydride is exposed to the alcohol nucleophile in the presence of a chiral catalyst such as A (Scheme 13.2, middle). Under these conditions, one substrate enantiomer is converted to a mono-ester whereas the other remains unchanged. Application of catalyst B (usually the enantiomer or a pseudo-enantiomer of A) results in transformation/non-transformation of the enantiomeric starting anhydride ). As usual for kinetic resolution, substrate conversion/product yield(s) are intrinsically limited to a maximum of 50%. For normal anhydrides (X = CR2), both carbonyl groups can engage in ester formation, and the product formulas in Scheme 13.1 are drawn arbitrarily. This section also covers the catalytic asymmetric alcoholysis of a-hydroxy acid O-carboxy anhydrides (X = O) and of a-amino acid N-carboxy anhydrides (X = NR). In these reactions the electrophilicity of the carbonyl groups flanking X is reduced and regioselective attack of the alcohol nucleophile on the other carbonyl function results. 

The Strecker amino acid synthesis, which involves treatment of aldehydes with ammonia and hydrogen cyanide (or equivalents) followed by hydrolysis of the intermediate a-amino nitriles to provide a-amino acids (Scheme 1), was first reported in 1850 [1], This method has been applied on an industrial scale toward the synthesis of racemic a-amino acids, but more recently interest in nonproteinogenic a-amino acids in a variety of scientific disciplines has prompted intense activity in the asymmetric syntheses of a-amino acids [2]. The catalytic asymmetric Strecker-type reaction offers one of the most direct and viable methods for the asymmetric synthesis of a-amino acid derivatives. It is the purpose of this Highlight to disclose recent developments in this emerging field of importance. 

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