Recent Developments in the Use of Enzyme Catalysed Reactions
in Organic Synthesis Resulting from Work at Exeter University
Gareth
N Jenkins,
and
Nicholas
J Turner
Department of Chemistry,
University
of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, Devon, UK, EX4 4QD
Contents
- Introduction
- Hydrolases
- enzyme-catalysed hydrolyses of carboxylic acid esters and amides, phosphate
esters, nitriles and epoxides;
- esterification and inter-esterification reactions catalysed by enzymes;
- Oxidoreductases
- reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols using whole-cell systems or
isolated dehydrogenases;
- oxidation of alicyclic and aromatic substrates using mono-oxygenases and
di-oxygenases in bacteria and fungi including enzyme-catalysed Baeyer-Villiger
oxidations;
- Carbon-carbon bond forming reactions
- aldol reactions;
- formation of optically active cyanohydrins and enzyme-catalysed acyloin
type reactions.
- Future Developments of Biotransformations
- The use of these biocatalytic methods for the stereocontrolled preparation of
important target structures is reviewed and some of the future directions for
the biotransformation area are discussed.