Enzymatic asymmetric hydroxylation of unnatural substrates with soybean lipoxygenase

Chemistry of the Secondary Metabolites of Termites

Isolation, structure determination, synthesis, and biochemistry of the low-molecular-weight compounds of the secretion of exocrine glands of termites are described, with an emphasis on pheromones and defensive compounds.

The use of substrate engineering in biohydroxylation

In the biohydroxylation of nonactivated carbon atoms, substrate engineering has been found to be a very useful and simple means to influence substrate acceptance and the regioselectivity and stereoselectivity of this transformation. Recently, this methodology has been applied to the hydroxylation of a large number of compounds including cycloalkane carboxylic acids, ketones, amines, amides and alcohols.

Efficient enantioselective reduction of ketones with Daucus carota root

A novel and efficient reduction of various prochiral ketones such as acetopehones, alpha-azido aryl ketones, beta-ketoesters, and aliphatic acyclic and cyclic ketones to the corresponding optically acive secondary alcohols with moderate to excellent chemical yield was achieved by using Daucus carota, root plant cells under extremely mild and environmentally benign conditions in aqueous medium, has been described. Many of these optically active alcohols are the potential chiral building blocks for the synthesis of pharmaceutically important molecules and asymmetric chiral ligands. Hence, this biocatalytic approach is found to be the most suitable for the preparation of a wide range of chiral alcohols and gave inspiration for the development of a new biotechnological process.

Oxidative biotransformations using oxygenases

Considerable progress has been made in manipulating oxidative biotransformations using oxygenases. Substrate acceptance, catalytic activity, regioselectivity and stereoselectivity have been improved significantly by substrate engineering, enzyme engineering or biocatalyst screening. Preparative biotransformations have been carried out to synthesize useful pharmaceutical intermediates or chiral synthons on the gram to several-hundred-gram scale, by use of whole cells of wild type or recombinant strains. The synthetic application of oxygenases in vitro has been shown to be possible by enzymatic or electrochemical regeneration of NADH or NADPH.