Abstract

The preparation of α-functionalized organic acids can be greatly simplified by adopting a protocol involving the catalytic assembly of achiral building blocks. However, the enzymatic assembly of small amino acids and aldehydes to form numerous α-functionalized organic acids is highly desired and remains a significant challenge. Herein, we report an artificially designed chiral-group-resetting biocatalytic process, which uses simple achiral glycine and aldehydes to synthesize stereodefined α-functionalized organic acids. This cascade biocatalysis comprises a basic module and three different extender modules and operates in a modular assembly manner. The engineered Escherichia coli catalysts, which contained different module(s), provide access to α-keto acids, α-hydroxy acids, and α-amino acids with excellent conversion and enantioselectivities. Therefore, this biocatalytic process provides an attractive strategy for the conversion of low-cost achiral starting materials to high-value α-functionalized organic acids.

Details

Title
Asymmetric assembly of high-value α-functionalized organic acids using a biocatalytic chiral-group-resetting process
Author
Song, Wei 1 ; Jin-Hui, Wang 1 ; Wu, Jing 2 ; Liu, Jia 1 ; Xiu-Lai, Chen 1 ; Li-Ming, Liu 3 

 State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China; Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China 
 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China 
 State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China; Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China; National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Sep 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2110063405
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.