Saccharomyces montanus

The enantio- and diastereoselective bioreduction of 2-oxocycloalkanecarboni-triles 10 lead to the cis relative configuration of (3-hydroxy nitriles 10a [17]. These reductions were accomplished by whole cells of the yeast Saccharomyces montanus (Scheme 12.5). The presence of the acidic a-hydrogen is very important since (3-keto nitriles that are fully substituted in the a-position do not racemize under the bioreduction conditions. The products were transformed into optically active 2-amino and 2-aminomethyl cycloalkanols. 

Yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces montanus) as well as ftmgi reduced structural analogous methoxy-substituted 2-cyano-l-tetraIones 213 (Fig. 55) to cis-2-cyano-l-tetraols 214 with high enantiomeric purity [273]. Several analogs have been... 

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