Intramolecular Stereoselective Stetter Reaction Catalyzed by Benzaldehyde Lyase

The reliable design and prediction of enzyme promiscuity to access transformations not observed in nature remains a long-standing challenge. Herein, we present the first example of an intramolecular stereoselective Stetter reaction catalyzed by benzaldehyde lyase, guided by the rational structure screening of various ThDP-dependent enzymes using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. After optimization, high productivity (up to 99 %) and stereoselectivity (up to 99:1 e.r.) for this novel enzyme function was achieved.

Biocatalytic Reduction Reactions from a Chemist's Perspective

Reductions play a key role in organic synthesis, producing chiral products with new functionalities. Enzymes can catalyse such reactions with exquisite stereo-, regio- and chemoselectivity, leading the way to alternative shorter classical synthetic routes towards not only high-added-value compounds but also bulk chemicals. In this review we describe the synthetic state-of-the-art and potential of enzymes that catalyse reductions, ranging from carbonyl, enone and aromatic reductions to reductive aminations.

Generation of Oxidoreductases with Dual Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Amine Dehydrogenase Activity

The l-lysine-ϵ-dehydrogenase (LysEDH) from Geobacillus stearothermophilus naturally catalyzes the oxidative deamination of the ϵ-amino group of l-lysine. We previously engineered this enzyme to create amine dehydrogenase (AmDH) variants that possess a new hydrophobic cavity in their active site such that aromatic ketones can bind and be converted into α-chiral amines with excellent enantioselectivity. We also recently observed that LysEDH was capable of reducing aromatic aldehydes into primary alcohols. Herein, we harnessed the promiscuous alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity of LysEDH to create new variants that exhibited enhanced catalytic activity for the reduction of substituted benzaldehydes and arylaliphatic aldehydes to primary alcohols. Notably, these novel engineered dehydrogenases also catalyzed the reductive amination of a variety of aldehydes and ketones with excellent enantioselectivity, thus exhibiting a dual AmDH/ADH activity. We envisioned that the catalytic bi-functionality of these enzymes could be applied for the direct conversion of alcohols into amines. As a proof-of-principle, we performed an unprecedented one-pot "hydrogen-borrowing" cascade to convert benzyl alcohol to benzylamine using a single enzyme. Conducting the same biocatalytic cascade in the presence of cofactor recycling enzymes (i.e., NADH-oxidase and formate dehydrogenase) increased the reaction yields. In summary, this work provides the first examples of enzymes showing "alcohol aminase" activity.