Enantioselective reduction of propiophenone formed from 3-chloropropiophenone and stereoinversion of the resulting alcohols in selected yeast cultures

Biotransformation of 3-chloro-1-phenylpropan-1-one 1 in sixteen selected cultures of yeast strains has been carried out. For most of the biocatalysts studied the substrate was fully consumed after 1–9 h of transformation, with the exception of the culture of Saccharomyces brasiliensis KCh 905, in which after 24 h trace amounts of the substrate were still visible (2%). However, apart from the expected enantiospecific reduction of the substrate to 3-chloro-1-phenylpropan-1-ol 3, the main biotransformation products comprised of a dehalogenation product—propiophenone 2 and the product of its reduction—1-phenylpropan-1-ol 4. It was only in the cultures of five strains: Saccharomyces brasiliensis KCh 905, Rhodotorula marina KCh 77, Candida parapsilosis KCh 909, Candida viswanathii KCh 120, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae KCh 464 that 3-chloro-1-phenylpropan-1-ol 3 was observed in amounts of more than 10% of the product mixture. (S)-3-Chloro-1-phenylpropan-1-ol with ee = 91% was identified after 9 h of biotransformation in the culture of Candida viswanathii KCh 120, whereas (R)-3-chloro-1-phenylpropan-1-ol with ee = 28% was found in the culture of Aphanocladium album KCh 417. 1-Day biotransformation of propiophenone 2 in the cultures of Rhodotorula strains gave (S)-1-phenylpropan-1-ol 4 with a very high ee (95–99%) and 85–99% of substrate conversion, whereas transformation of this substrate in the cultures of Candida viswanathii KCh 120 and Candida parapsilosis KCh 909 led to (R)-1-phenylpropan-1-ol with ee = 98% and 97%, respectively. During biotransformation of propiophenone the percent composition of the reaction mixtures changed with time. Employment of the racemic mixture of 1-phenylpropan-1-ol 4 as a substrate for biotransformations allowed us to observe that the biocatalysts tested were capable of enantioselective oxidation of (S)-1-phenylpropan-1-ol. An exception was the culture of Rhodotorula glutinis KCh 242, in which after one day of biotransformation (S)-1-phenylpropan-1-ol was obtained with ee = 96%.