Secondary deracemization

Subsequently Turner and coworkers were able to show that the Asn336Ser variant possessed broad substrate specificity, with the ability to oxidize a wide range of chiral amines of interest [19]. They also discovered a second mutation, Ile246Met, which conferred enhanced activity toward chiral secondary amines as exemplified by the deracemization of racemic 1-methyltetrahydroisoquinoline (MTQ) (9) (Figure 5.9)[20j. 

Finally in this section on deracemization via cyclic oxidation/reduction methods, there has been some limited work carried out on the deracemization of secondary alcohols. Soda et al. [22] employed lactate oxidase in combination with sodium borohydride to deracemize D/i-lactate (18) via the intermediate pyruvate (19) (Figure 5.12). 

Microbial Deracemization of Secondary Alcohols Using a Single Microorganism... 

It is well known that certain microorganisms are able to effect the deracemization of racemic secondary alcohols with a high yield of enantiomerically enriched compounds. These deracemization processes often involve two different alcohol dehydrogenases with complementary enantiospedficity. In this context Porto ef al. [24] have shown that various fungi, induding Aspergillus terreus CCT 3320 and A. terreus CCT 4083, are able to deracemize ortho- and meta-fluorophenyl-l-ethanol in good... 

An alternative approach to the microbial deracemization of secondary alcohols is to use two different microorganisms with complementary stereoselectivity. Fantin et al. studied the stereoinversion of several secondary alcohols using the culture supernatants of two microorganisms, namely Bacillus stearothermophilus and Yarrowia lipolytica (Figure 5.18) [31]. The authors tested three main systems for deracemization. First, they used the supernatant from cultures of B. stearothermophilus, to which they added Y. lipolytica cells and the racemic alcohols. Secondly, they used the culture supernatant of Y. lipolytica and added B. stearothermophilus cells and the racemic alcohols. Finally, they resuspended the cells of both organisms in phosphate buffer and added the racemic alcohols. The best results were obtained in the first system with 6-penten-2-ol (26) (100% ee and 100% yield). The phosphate buffer system gave... 

Stereoinversion Stereoinversion can be achieved either using a chemoenzymatic approach or a purely biocatalytic method. As an example of the former case, deracemization of secondary alcohols via enzymatic hydrolysis of their acetates may be mentioned. Thus, after the first step, kinetic resolution of a racemate, the enantiomeric alcohol resulting from hydrolysis of the fast reacting enantiomer of the substrate is chemically transformed into an activated ester, for example, by mesylation. The mixture of both esters is then subjected to basic hydrolysis. Each hydrolysis proceeds with different stereochemistry - the acetate is hydrolyzed with retention of configuration due to the attack of the hydroxy anion on the carbonyl carbon, and the mesylate - with inversion as a result of the attack of the hydroxy anion on the stereogenic carbon atom. As a result, a single enantiomer of the secondary alcohol is obtained (Scheme 5.12) [8, 50a]. 

Deracemization via the biocatalytic stereoinversion is usually achieved by employing whole cells. In the case of secondary alcohols, it is believed that microbial stereoinversion occurs by an oxidation-reduction sequence... 

Scheme 5.12 Deracemization of secondary alcohols via resolution followed by chemical stereoinversion.

Scheme 5.13 Deracemization of secondary alcohols based on biocatalytic stereoinversion [26, 50b].

Scheme 5.14 Chemoenzymatic enantioconvergent deracemization of secondary alcohols via hydrolysis of their sulfate esters.

Voss, C.V., Gruber, C.C. and Kroutil, W. (2008) Deracemization of secondary alcohols through a concurrent tandem biocatalytic oxidation and reduction. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 47 (4), 741-745. 

Relatively little attention has been paid to the conversion of racemic compounds into their enantiomerically pure versions in a single process, in other words a deracemization. For certain classes of chiral compounds such as secondary alcohols, this approach should provide many benefits, particularly to the pharmaceutical industry. Existing routes to high value intermediates in their racemic form may be modified to provide the equivalent homochiral product, thus reducing the extent of development chemistry required. In addition, the... 

Medici et al. have used a combined sequential oxidation-reduction to access a range of imsaturated secondary alcohols from their racemates [7] (Scheme 1). Here the S-alcohol 2 is oxidized by B. stereothermophilus which is displaying Prelog specificity leaving the l -enantiomer untouched. The other microorganism, Y. lipolytica contains an anti-Prelog dehydrogenase which is therefore able to reduce the ketone 1 to the l -alcohol 2. Thus the combination of the two steps effects a net deracemization of substrate 2. 

In order to extend the approach to include deracemization of chiral secondary amines, this group carried out directed evolution on the monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzyme MAO-N (Scheme 2.32). A new variant was identified with improved catalytic properties towards a cyclic secondary amine 64, the substrate used in the evolution experiments. This new variant had a single point mutation, lle246Met, and was found to have improved catalytic properties towards a number of other cyclic secondary amines. The new variant was used in the deracemization of rac-64 yielding (R)-64 in high yield and enantiomeric excess [34]. 

Kroutil et al. have recently reported [18] an elegant one-pot oxidation/reduction sequence for the deracemization of a chiral secondary alcohol using a single biocatalyst. LyophiUzed cells of a Rhodococcus sp. CBS IVJ.Ti converted racemic 2-decanol into the (S)-enantiomer in 82% yield and 92% enantiomeric excess (e.e.). via a non-specific oxidation followed sequentially by an (S)-selective reduction (Scheme 6.5). Acetone was used as the hydrogen acceptor in the first step and isopropanol as the hydrogen donor in the second step. 

The group of Turner has reported the deracemization of amines [79]. The wild type of Type II monoamine oxidase from Aspergillus niger possesses very low but measurable activity toward the oxidation of L-a-methylbenzylamine. The oxidation of the D enantiomer is even slower. In vitro evolution led to the identification of a mutant with enhanced enantioselectivity, showing high E values (>100) for a variety of primary and secondary amines. An example is shown in Scheme 5.39. 

Turner has applied this deracemization process to a very interesting tandem transformation where y-amino ketones are transformed into enantiopure secondary amines via intramolecular reductive animation followed by deracemization (Scheme 5.41) [80]. 

Carr, R., Alexeeva, M., Dawson, M. J., Gotor-Fernandez, V., Humphrey, C. E., and Turner, N. J. 2005. Directed evolution of oxidase for the preparative deracemization of cyclic secondary amines. Chem. Bio. Chem.,6, 637-639. 

Deracemization by stereoinversion is a process in which one form (S of the racemic starting material (Rf -i- Sf) is enantioselectively transformed into an intermediate (Si) which can in turn react to give the form of opposite configuration (Rf). An example of this method could be the selective oxidation of one enantiomer of a racemic secondary alcohol and the subsequent reduction with a catalyst of opposite stereopreference [2]. 

The method is of general applicability in the deracemization of secondary alcohols and amines and consists of a Upase-catalyzed irreversible acylation and in situ racemization of the non-reacted enantiomer catalyzed by a ruthenium catalyst. 

The method of combined enzyme- and transition metal-catalyzed reactions widely applied to the DKR of secondary alcohols has also been applied to the DKR of a-hydroxy acid esters rac-1. The principle is based on the enantioselective acylation catalyzed by Pseudomonas species lipase (PS-C from Amano Ltd) using p-Cl-phenyl acetate as an acyl donor in cyclohexane combined with in situ racemization of the non-acylated enantiomer catalyzed by ruthenium compounds [7]. Under these conditions, various a-hydroxy esters of type 1 were deracemized in moderate to good yields and high enantioselectivity (Scheme 13.2). 

Microbial stereoinversion consists of a deracemization process in which a single whole cell system is applied for the two-step inversion of the configuration of one enantiomer, usually a compound containing a secondary alcohol group. Examples of a two-enzyme system is known for deracemization of mandelates where a single microorganism is used [18]. 

Deracemization. In this type of process, one enantiomer is converted to the other, so that a racemic mixture is converted to a pure enantiomer, or to a mixture enriched in one enantiomer. This is not quite the same as the methods of resolution previously mentioned, although an outside optically active substance is required. To effect the deracemization two conditions are necessary (7) the enantiomers must complex differently with the optically active substance (2) they must interconvert under the conditions of the experiment. When racemic thioesters were placed in solution with a specific optically active amide for 28 days, the solution contained 89% of one enantiomer and 11 % of the other. In this case, the presence of a base (Et3N) was necessary for the interconversion to take place. Biocatalytic deracemization processes induce deracemization of chiral secondary alcohols. In a specific example, Sphingomonas paucimobilis NCIMB 8195 catalyzes the efficient deracemization of many secondary alcohols in up to 90% yield of the (R)-alcohol. ... 

Deracemization via Biocatalytic Stereoinversion. Racemic secondary alcohols may be converted into a single enantiomer via stereoinversion which proceeds through a two-step redox sequence (Scheme 2.130) [38, 941, 942] In a first step, one enantiomer from the racemic mixture is selectively oxidized to the corresponding ketone while the other enantiomer remains unaffected. Then, the ketone is reduced in a second subsequent step by another redox-enzyme displaying opposite stereochemical preference. Overall, this process constitutes a deracemization technique, which leads to the formation of a single enantiomer in 100% theoretical yield... 

The term deracemization covers reactions in which two enantiomers are inter-converted by a stereoinversion process such that a racemate can be transformed to a non-racemic mixture without any net change in the composition of the molecule. Deracemization reactions usually involve a redox process, for example, the interconversion of chiral secondary alcohols via the ketone or alternatively the interconversion of amino acids/amines via the corresponding imine (Scheme 4.37). 

It is well known that various microbial systems are able to deracemise racemic secondary alcohols via a process that generally involves two different alcohol dehydrogenases with complementary enantiospecificity. For example racemic benzoin may be deracemized using Rhizopus oryzae ATCC 9363 (Scheme 4.38). Interestingly, through control of the pH of the medium, it was possible to control the absolute configuration of the major enantiomer produced at pH 7.5-8.S, the (J )-enantiomer was produced in 75% yield and 97% ee whereas at pH 4-5, the (S)-enantiomer was produced in 71% yield and 85% ee [89]. 

Cyclic secondary amines [102] have been successfully deracemized via directed evolution of the monoamine oxidase from A. niger. The new variant displayed high catalytic activity and enantioselectivity towards cyclic secondary amines which could be subjected to reduction using ammonia borane to give the enantiomericaUy pure amine (Scheme 4.47). 

Scheme 11.3 Deracemization of secondary alcohols by a biocatalytic cascade using Alcaligenes faecalis who e cells in the oxidation step and an ADH with opposite stereoselectivity in the reduction step.

Further investigations allowed the selection of ADHs with sufficiently high cofactor preference for performing the deracemization reactions toward enantio-pure (S)- or (R)-alcohols in cascade systems (Scheme 11.4a) [10]. The feasibility of this simultaneous multienzymatic transformations was demonstrated using a set of 10 different racemic secondary alcohols as substrates. 

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