Enzymatic ketone reduction: mapping the substrate profile of a short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase (YMR226c) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase (YMR226c) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, and the encoded protein was purified. The activity and enantioselectivity of this recombinant enzyme were evaluated with a series of ketones. The alcohol dehydrogenase (YMR226c) was found to effectively catalyze the enantioselective reductions of aryl-substituted acetophenones, α-chloroacetophenones, aliphatic ketones, and α- and β-ketoesters. While the enantioselectivity for the reduction of β-ketoesters was moderate, the acetophenone derivatives, aromatic α-ketoesters, some substituted α-chloroacetophenones, and aliphatic ketones were reduced to the corresponding chiral alcohols with excellent enantioselectivity. The enantiopreference of this enzyme generally followed Prelog’s rule for the simple ketones. The ester functionality played some role in determining the enzyme’s enantiopreference for the reduction of α- and β-ketoesters. The present study serves as a valuable guidance for the future applications of this versatile biocatalyst.     

Enzymatic enantioselective reduction of α-ketoesters by a thermostable 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from Bacteroides fragilis

A thermostable 7α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (7-HSDH) from Bacteroides fragilis ATCC 25285 was cloned and over-expressed in E. coli, and its substrate specificity and stereoselectivity toward reduction of various ketones were examined. This alcohol dehydrogenase was active toward a series of aromatic and bulky aliphatic α-ketoesters. The substituents at the phenyl ring of aromatic α-ketoesters greatly affected the activity, but their effects on enantioselectivity were minimal. The synthetic application of this enzyme was then demonstrated through the preparation of a few α-hydroxy carboxylic acid esters of pharmaceutical interest.     

Highly stereoselective reduction of prochiral ketones by a bacterial reductase coupled with cofactor regeneration

A carbonyl reductase gene (yueD) from Bacillus sp. ECU0013 was heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and the encoded protein (BYueD) was purified to homogeneity and characterized. The NADPH-dependent reductase showed a broad substrate spectrum towards different aromatic ketones, and α- and β-ketoesters. Although the enantioselectivity was high to moderate for the reduction of α-ketoesters, all the tested β-ketoesters and aromatic ketones were reduced to the corresponding chiral alcohols in enantiomerically pure forms. Furthermore, the practical applicability of this enzyme was evaluated for the reduction of ethyl 4-chloro-3-oxobutanoate (1a). Using Escherichia coli cells coexpressing BYueD and glucose dehydrogenase, 215 g L(-1) (1.3 M) of 1a was stoichiometrically converted to ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate ((R)-1b) in an aqueous-toluene biphasic system by using a substrate fed-batch strategy, resulting in an overall hydroxyl product yield of 91.7% with enantiomeric purity of 99.6% ee.     

Facile Access to Chiral Alcohols with Pharmaceutical Relevance Using a Ketoreductase Newly Mined from Pichia guilliermondii

Chiral secondary alcohols with additional functional groups are frequently required as important and valuable synthons for pharmaceuticals, agricultural and other fine chemicals. With the advantages of environmentally benign reaction conditions, broad reaction scope, and high stereoselectivity, biocatalytic reduction of prochiral ketones offers significant potential in the synthesis of optically active alcohols. A CmCR homologous carbonyl reductase from Pichia guilliermondii NRRL Y‐324 was successfully overexpressed. Substrate profile characterization revealed its broad substrate specificity, covering aryl ketones, aliphatic ketones and ketoesters. Furthermore, a variety of ketone substrates were asymmetrically reduced by the purified enzyme with an additionally NADPH regeneration system. The reduction system exhibited excellent enantioselectivity (>99% ee) in the reduction of all the aromatic ketones and ketoesters, except for 2‐bromoacetophenone (93.5% ee). Semi‐preparative reduction of six ketones was achieved with high enantioselectivity (>99% ee) and isolation yields (>80%) within 12 h. This study provides a useful guidance for further application of this enzyme in the asymmetric synthesis of chiral alcohol enantiomers.     

Amino alcohol-mediated enantioselective syntheses of α-substituted indanones and tetralones,ammonium enolates as key intermediates

Optically active 2-substituted-1-indanones or 2-substituted-1-tetralones are isolated from amino alcohol-mediated asymmetric domino reactions of α-disubstituted ketones, β-ketoesters, enol carbonates, α,β-unsaturated ketones, a silyl enol ether, or a β-ketoacid, with some of these reactions occurring under UV-light irradiation or Pd catalysis. The absence of a relationship between the nature of the substrate and the absolute configuration of the ketone produced is due to the protonation of a common ammonium enolate as the key enantioselective step. The enantioselectivity depends on various factors, which indicates the occurrence of side pathways.     

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.     

Biotransformation of aromatic ketones and ketoesters with the non-conventional yeast Pichia glucozyma

The non-conventional yeast Pichia glucozyma CBS 5766 has been used for the biotransformation of different aromatic ketones and ketoesters. The growth and biotransformation conditions were optimised for the reduction of acetophenone and under optimised conditions, propiophenone, butyrophenone and valerophenone were reduced to the corresponding (S)-alcohols with high yields and enantioselectivity. Ketoreductase(s) of Pichia glucozyma showed high catalytic activities also towards aromatic β- and γ-ketoesters, being often competitive with esterase(s). These concurrent activities allowed for the preparation of hydroxyesters, hydroxyacids and lactones often in a very selective manner.     

Asymmetric reduction of ketones by employing Rhodotorula sp. AS2.2241 and synthesis of the β-blocker (R)-nifenalol

A broad range of prochiral ketones were efficiently reduced to the corresponding optically active secondary alcohols using resting cells of Rhodotorula sp. AS2.2241. The microbial reduction system exhibited high activity and enantioselectivity in the reduction of various aromatic ketones and acetylpyridines (>97% ee), but moderate to high enantioselectivity in the reduction of α- and β-keto esters. (R)-Nifenalol, a β-adrenergic blocker, was also synthesized using 2-bromo-1(R)-(4-nitrophenyl)ethanol (97% ee) which was prepared through the asymmetric reduction of 2-bromo-1-(4-nitrophenyl)ethanone employing Rhodotorula sp. AS2.2241. The simple preparation and the high activity of the biocatalyst turned this system into a versatile tool for organic synthesis.     

A novel method for enzymatic asymmetric reduction of ketones in a supercritical carbon dioxide/water biphasic system

A novel method to enable asymmetric reduction of ketones by an alcohol dehydrogenase from Geotrichum candidum in a supercritical carbon dioxide and water biphasic system is described. The addition of sodium bicarbonate improved the reactivity up to a practical level while retaining excellent enantioselectivity.     

Ru(II) complexes of cyclohexane diamine and monodentate phosphorus ligands for asymmetric ketone hydrogenation

The incorporation of a trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane in place of DPEN provides improvements in enantioselectivity to asymmetric ketone hydrogenation reactions using BrXuPHOS–Ru–diamine catalysts. Substrates containing halogenated aryl rings are particularly compatible with this catalyst, however, α-chlorinated ketones remain resistant to reduction under any conditions.     

8-Amino-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinolines as ligands in iridium(III) catalysts for the reduction of aryl ketones by asymmetric transfer hydrogenation (ATH)

Aqua iridium(III) complexes with 8-amino-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinolines CAMPY L1 and its derivatives as chiral ligands proved to be very efficient catalysts for the reduction of a wide range of prochiral aryl ketones, revealing a variety of behaviours in terms of reaction rate and stereoselectivity. As standard substrates, differently substituted acetophenones were studied and good enantioselectivity (86% ee) was achieved in the reduction of 1-(o-tolyl)ethan-1-one 6. Particularly interesting was the ATH reaction in the case of β-amino keto esters, precursors of β-lactams and azetidinones. The best results were obtained with [Cp¹Ir(H₂O)(L1)]SO₄ affording the corresponding diastereomeric alcohols in an (R,S)-configuration with an excellent 99% ee in the reduction of 2-(benzamido methyl)-3-oxo-3-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)propanoate 12.     

Single-Point Mutant Inverts the Stereoselectivity of a Carbonyl Reductase toward β-Ketoesters with Enhanced Activity

Enzyme stereoselectivity control is still a major challenge. To gain insight into the molecular basis of enzyme stereo-recognition and expand the source of antiPrelog carbonyl reductase toward β-ketoesters, rational enzyme design aiming at stereoselectivity inversion was performed. The designed variant Q139G switched the enzyme stereoselectivity toward β-ketoesters from Prelog to antiPrelog, providing corresponding alcohols in high enantiomeric purity (89.1–99.1 % ee). More importantly, the well-known trade-off between stereoselectivity and activity was not found. Q139G exhibited higher catalytic activity than the wildtype enzyme, the enhancement of the catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) varied from 1.1- to 27.1-fold. Interestingly, the mutant Q139G did not lead to reversed stereoselectivity toward aromatic ketones. Analysis of enzyme–substrate complexes showed that the structural flexibility of β-ketoesters and a newly formed cave together facilitated the formation of the antiPrelog-preferred conformation. In contrast, the relatively large and rigid structure of the aromatic ketones prevents them from forming the antiPrelog-preferred conformation.     

Ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones in ethanol

A ruthenium catalyst formed in situ by combining [Ru(p-cymene)Cl₂]₂ and an amino acid hydroxy-amide was found to catalyze efficiently the asymmetric reduction of aryl alkyl ketones under transfer hydrogenation conditions using ethanol as the hydrogen donor. The secondary alcohol products were obtained in moderate to good yields and with good to excellent enantioselectivity (up to 97% ee).     

Convenient and simple synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles by the reaction of α-halo ketone carbonyls with ammonium thiocyanate in the presence of N-methylimidazole

Substituted 2-aminothiazole derivatives were obtained as a result of N-methylimidazole catalyzed cyclization of α-halo ketone carbonyls with ammonium thiocyanate in water-alcoholic media. The generality of the method has been demonstrated by screening a series of aromatic/heteroaromatic/aliphatic α-halo ketones, α-halo β-diketones, and α-halo β-ketoesters. The developed method is simple, mild, and general route for the preparation of diversely functionalized 2-aminothiazoles in good to moderate yields from readily available starting materials.     

Evaluation of substituent effects on activity and enantioselectivity in the enzymatic reduction of aryl ketones

The enzymatic reduction of a series of substituted aryl ketones catalyzed by 24 isolated recombinant ketoreductases was studied and the substituent effects on activity and enantioselectivity were evaluated. When comparing p- and m-substituted acetophenones, the substituent significantly affects the activity of some of the tested ketoreductases, while it has little effect on the activity of other ketoreductases. Most of the tested ketoreductases were highly enantioselective in the reduction of these aryl ketones. The electronic properties, steric factors, and the ability to form a hydrogen bond to the substituents at the ortho-position play a significant role in determining both the activity and enantioselectivity of the ketoreductase-catalyzed reductions. From an applicability point of view, both enantiomers of the product aryl alcohols could be prepared via reduction catalyzed by one or more of the ketoreductases in most cases.     

Asymmetric conjugate additions of α-substituted-α-cyanoacetates to acetylenic ketones by chiral phase transfer catalysis

Asymmetric conjugate addition of α-substituted-α-cyanoacetates to acetylenic ketones has been achieved with high enantioselectivity and moderate E/Z selectivity under the influence of our recently designed, binaphthyl-modified 3,5-bis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]phenyl substituted phase transfer catalyst.     

Study of the enantioselectivity of the CAL-B-catalysed transesterification of α-substituted α-propylmethanols and α-substituted benzyl alcohols

A study of the enantioselectivity exhibited by the lipase B from Candida antarctica in the transesterification of different α-substituted α-propylmethanols with vinyl acetate is shown. The best results are obtained when the large-sized (L) substituent of the alcohol is either a phenyl group or more especially a cyclohexyl group, although the reaction rates are lower than when linear or slightly branched groups are present. It is also found that ramification at the β-position of the L substituent has a deleterious effect on both lipase activity and enantioselectivity. Moreover, some α-substituted benzyl alcohols bearing medium-sized (M) substituents larger than an ethyl and smaller than a propyl group are resolved by means of this methodology with moderate-good enantioselectivities (E=46–57) and similar reaction rates.     

Preparative asymmetric reduction of ketones in a biphasic medium with an (S)-alcohol dehydrogenase under in situ-cofactor-recycling with a formate dehydrogenase

The substrate range of a novel recombinant (S)-alcohol dehydrogenase from Rhodococcus erythropolis is described. In addition, an enzyme-compatible biphasic reaction medium for the asymmetric biocatalytic reduction of ketones with in situ-cofactor regeneration has been developed. Thus, reductions of poorly water soluble ketones in the presence of the alcohol dehydrogenase from R. erythropolis and a formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii can be carried out at higher substrate concentrations of 10-200 mM. The resulting (S)-alcohols were formed with moderate to good conversion rates, and with up to >99% ee.     

Enantioselective synthesis of ethyl (S)-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyrate by recombinant diketoreductase

Recombinant diketoreductase showed excellent stereoselectivity in the double reduction of β,δ-diketo esters. To investigate the substrate specificity and to broaden the applications of this new biocatalyst, a number of ketone substrates were used to evaluate the substrate spectrum and enantioselectivity of this enzyme in the present study. Among the ketone substrates tested, only this enzyme displayed high efficiency and excellent enantioselectivity in the reduction of ethyl 2-oxo-4-phenylbutyrate to ethyl (S)-2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyrate. After optimizing the reaction conditions, the bio-reduction of ethyl 2-oxo-4-phenylbutyrate at a substrate concentration of 0.8 M (164.8 g/L) was achieved by the recombinant diketoreductase in an aqueous-toluene biphasic system coupled with formate dehydrogenase for the regeneration of cofactor, resulting in an overall hydroxyl product yield of 88.7% (99.5% ee). This new enzymatic transformation may offer a practical method for the preparation of this important chiral building block.     

Ketoreductases: stereoselective catalysts for the facile synthesis of chiral alcohols

The results of a reduction of a wide range of ketones using 31 commercially available isolated ketoreductases (KREDs) are presented. All enzymes accepted a wide substrate range. The stereoselectivity of each enzyme was measured for the reduction of benzoyl-hydroxyacetone and ethyl-3-oxobutanoate, and in each case, enzymes which produce enantiomerically pure (R)- and (S)-alcohols were found. The preparative scale reactions were investigated using two ketones with different hydrophobicities (benzoyl-hydroxyacetone and α-tetralone) and using enzymes with varying specific activities for their reduction. Regardless of the hydrophobicity of the substrate, high titers of ketone (0.75–1.4 M) were reduced in high yield using catalytic amounts of enzyme (1–7% g/g relative to substrate) and cofactor (0.1–0.2% equiv. relative to ketone) within 4–24 h. The cofactor was efficiently regenerated in situ via the oxidation of glucose by glucose dehydrogenase, an enzyme that has also been cloned and over-expressed. These results show that isolated ketoreductases can be quickly and easily screened against target ketones, and the reactions can be scaled to produce preparative amounts of chiral alcohols. Ketoreductase enzymes should become a standard addition to the organic chemists toolbox of asymmetric catalysts for stereoselective ketone reduction.