Preparation of enantiomerically pure (3E)-alkyl-4-(hetero-2-yl)-2-hydroxybut-3-enoates by Candida parapsilosis ATCC 7330 mediated deracemisation and determination of the absolute configuration of (3E)-ethyl-4-(thiophene-2-yl)-2-hydroxybut-3-enoate

Recent biocatalytic oxidation-reduction cascades

The combination of an oxidation and a reduction in a cascade allows performing transformations in a very economic and efficient fashion. The challenge is how to combine an oxidation with a reduction in one pot, either by running the two reactions simultaneously or in a stepwise fashion without isolation of intermediates. The broader availability of various redox enzymes nowadays has triggered the recent investigation of various oxidation–reduction cascades.

Ethyl 2-hydroxy-5-oxo-4-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyrano[3,2-c]chromene-2-carboxylate

The main structural unit of the title compoud, C₂₁H₁₈O₆, is a fused three-ring group consisting of coumarin and tetra­hydro­pyrane ring systems. Two C atoms of the tetra­hydro­pyran ring are displaced by 0.295 (3) and −0.360 (2) Å from the mean plane of coumarin ring. The dihedral angle between the phenyl and coumarin rings is 73.94 (3)°. Inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are present in the crystal structure.

Candida spp. redox machineries: an ample biocatalytic platform for practical applications and academic insights

The use of oxidoreductases as biocatalysts for the production of a wide number of chiral building blocks is presently a mature (bio-)technology. In this context some industrial applications are currently performed by means of those enzymatic approaches, and new examples are expected to be realized. Moreover, oxidoreductases provide an interesting academic platform to undertake fundamental research in enzymology, to acquire a better understanding on catalytic mechanisms, and to facilitate the development of new biocatalytic applications. Within this area, a wide number of oxidoreductases from genus Candida spp. have been characterized and used as biocatalysts. These enzymes are rather diverse, and are able to carry out many useful reactions, like highly (enantio)selective keto-reductions, (de)racemizations and stereoinversions, and promiscuous catalytic imine reductions. In addition, some Candida spp. dehydrogenases are very useful for regenerating the cofactors, with the aid of sacrificial substrates. Addressing those features, the present paper aims to give an overview of these enzymes, by focusing on practical applications that these biocatalysts can provide. Furthermore, when possible, academic insights on the enzymatic performances will be discussed as well.

Orchestration of concurrent oxidation and reduction cycles for stereoinversion and deracemisation of sec-alcohols

Black and white are opposites as are oxidation and reduction. Performing an oxidation, for example, of a sec-alcohol and a reduction of the corresponding ketone in the same vessel without separation of the reagents seems to be an impossible task. Here we show that oxidative cofactor recycling of NADP (+) and reductive regeneration of NADH can be performed simultaneously in the same compartment without significant interference. Regeneration cycles can be run in opposing directions beside each other enabling one-pot transformation of racemic alcohols to one enantiomer via concurrent enantioselective oxidation and asymmetric reduction employing defined alcohol dehydrogenases with opposite stereo- and cofactor-preference. Thus, by careful selection of appropriate enzymes, NADH recycling can be performed in the presence of NADP (+) recycling to achieve overall, for example, deracemisation of sec-alcohols or stereoinversion representing a possible concept for a "green" equivalent to the chemical-intensive Mitsunobu inversion.