Lauder K, Anselmi S, Finnigan JD, Qi Y, Charnock SJ, Castagnolo D. Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Thiocarboxylic Acids by Nitrilase Biocatalysed Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of α-Thionitriles.
Chemistry 2020;
26:10422-10426. [PMID:
32239730 PMCID:
PMC7496879 DOI:
10.1002/chem.202001108]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
The enantioselective synthesis of α-thiocarboxylic acids by biocatalytic dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of nitrile precursors exploiting nitrilase enzymes is described. A panel of 35 nitrilase biocatalysts were screened and enzymes Nit27 and Nit34 were found to catalyse the DKR of racemic α-thionitriles under mild conditions, affording the corresponding carboxylic acids with high conversions and good-to-excellent ee. The ammonia produced in situ during the biocatalytic transformation favours the racemization of the nitrile enantiomers and, in turn, the DKR without the need of any external additive base.
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