Alba Díaz-Rodríguez

Catalytic Promiscuity of Transaminases: Preparation of Enantioenriched β-Fluoroamines by Formal Tandem Hydrodefluorination/Deamination.

Transaminases are valuable enzymes for industrial biocatalysis and enable the preparation of optically pure amines. For these transformations they require either an amine donor (amination of ketones) or an amine acceptor (deamination of racemic amines). Herein transaminases are shown to react with aromatic β-fluoroamines, thus leading to simultaneous enantioselective dehalogenation and deamination to form the corresponding acetophenone derivatives in the absence of an amine acceptor. A series of racemic β-fluoroamines was resolved in a kinetic resolution by tandem hydrodefluorination/deamination, thus giving the corresponding amines with up to greater than 99 % ee. This protocol is the first example of exploiting the catalytic promiscuity of transaminases as a tool for novel transformations.

Synthesis and anti-HIV activity of conformationally restricted bicyclic hexahydroisobenzofuran nucleoside analogs

A chiral synthesis of a series of hexahydroisobenzofuran (HIBF) nucleosides has been accomplished via glycosylation of a stereo-defined (syn-isomer) sugar motif 16 with the appropriate silylated bases. All nucleoside analogs were obtained in 52-71% yield as a mixture of alpha- and beta-anomeric products increasing the breadth of the novel nucleosides available for screening. The structure of the novel bicyclic HIBF nucleosides was established by a single crystal X-ray structure of the beta-HIBF thymine analog 22b. Furthermore, the sugar conformation for these nucleosides was established as N-type. Among the novel HIBF nucleosides synthesized, twenty-five compounds were tested as inhibitor of HIV-1 in human peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells and seven were found to be active (EC(50) = 12.3-36.2 microM). Six of these compounds were purine analogs with beta-HIBF inosine analog 22o being the most potent (EC(50) = 12.3 microM) among all compounds tested. The striking resemblance between didanosine (ddI) and 22o may explain the potent anti-HIV activity.

Deracemisation of profenol core by combining laccase/TEMPO-mediated oxidation and alcohol dehydrogenase-catalysed dynamic kinetic resolution

A mild one-pot methodology has been developed to deracemise rac-2-phenyl-1-propanol by combining the use of non-selective laccase/TEMPO-mediated oxidation with enantioselective bioreduction of the racemic aldehyde intermediate under dynamic conditions. The process was easily scalable and stereocontrollable by selecting the suitable biocatalyst.

Laccase/TEMPO-mediated system for the thermodynamically disfavored oxidation of 2,2-dihalo-1-phenylethanol derivatives

An efficient methodology to oxidize β,β-dihalogenated secondary alcohols employing oxygen was achieved in a biphasic medium using the laccase from Trametes versicolor/TEMPO pair, providing the corresponding ketones in a clean fashion under very mild conditions. Moreover, a chemoenzymatic protocol has been applied successfully to deracemize 2,2-dichloro-1-phenylethanol combining this oxidation with an alcohol dehydrogenase-catalyzed bioreduction.

Why Leave a Job Half Done? Recent Progress in Enzymatic Deracemizations

In recent years the usefulness of enzymatic systems to obtain a single stereoisomerically pure compound starting from a racemate has been expanded. Moreover, current advances in protein engineering, molecular biology and modeling tools are the basis to improve the catalytic properties of enzymes to face novel synthetic challenges. Also, medium engineering and novel immobilization methods of (bio)catalysts are enhancing the productivity of biocatalytic processes making them suitable for being scalable. The development of multienzymatic protocols and the combination of enzymes with other catalysts are providing a wide range of synthetic possibilities that are expanding the scope of these transformations even at industrial scale. Herein we will describe an overview of recent (chemo)enzymatic deracemizations, focusing on the strategy employed (dynamic kinetic resolution, stereoinversion, cyclic deracemization or enantioconvergent process), the type of substrate (e.g., alcohols, amines, carboxylic acid derivatives or carbonylic compounds), and the biocatalyst(s) used.

Enantioselective Preparation of δ‐Valerolactones with Horse Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH) has been found to be a versatile biocatalyst for the desymmetrization of prochiral 3‐arylpentane‐1,5‐diols, based on a two‐step one‐pot oxidation. This procedure has allowed the formation of valuable (S)‐lactones in good to excellent conversions and enantiomeric excess. The catalytic performance of HLADH has been studied using several cofactor regeneration systems and cosolvents, finding great improvements in terms of activity with L‐lactate dehydrogenase, while the stereoselectivity of the process was significantly improved when using tetrahydrofuran. Docking studies has revealed the pattern substitution importance in the selectivity and activity of this oxidative process.

Centrifugal partition chromatography in a biorefinery context: Optimisation and scale-up of monosaccharide fractionation from hydrolysed sugar beet pulp

The isolation of component sugars from biomass represents an important step in the bioprocessing of sustainable feedstocks such as sugar beet pulp. Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is used here, as an alternative to multiple resin chromatography steps, to fractionate component monosaccharides from crude hydrolysed sugar beet pulp pectin. CPC separation of samples, prepared in the stationary phase, was carried out using an ethanol: ammonium sulphate (300gL-1) phase system (0.8:1.8v:v) in ascending mode. This enabled removal of crude feedstream impurities and separation of monosaccharides into three fractions (l-rhamnose, l-arabinose and d-galactose, and d-galacturonic acid) in a single step. Throughput was improved three-fold by increasing sample injection volume, from 4 to 16% of column volume, with similar separation performance maintained in all cases. Extrusion of the final galacturonic acid fraction increased the eluted solute concentration, reduced the total separation time by 24% and removed the need for further column regeneration. Reproducibility of the separation after extrusion was validated by using multiple stacked injections. Scale-up was performed linearly from a semi-preparative 250mL column to a preparative 950mL column with a scale-up ratio of 3.8 applied to mobile phase flow rate and sample injection volume. Throughputs of 9.4gL-1h-1 of total dissolved solids were achieved at the preparative scale with a throughput of 1.9gL-1h-1 of component monosaccharides. These results demonstrate the potential of CPC for both impurity removal and target fractionation within biorefinery separations.

Broadening the chemical scope of laccases: selective deprotection of N-benzyl groups

Laccase from Trametes versicolor together with TEMPO has been found to be a very efficient system to deprotect N-benzylated primary amines, differing from previously described methods since it uses oxygen as a mild oxidant in aqueous medium. Chemoselective removal of the benzyl group was achieved with excellent yields when secondary amines and alcohol moieties were also present.

Synthesis of 2′,3′-Cyclohexene Bicyclic Nucleoside Analogues as Antiviral Compounds

Chiral syntheses of a series of hexahydroisobenzofuran (HIBF) nucleosides have been accomplished via glycosylation of a stereo-defined (syn-isomer) sugar motif with the appropriate silylated bases. All nucleoside analogues were obtained in 52-71% yield as a mixture of alpha- and beta-anomeric products increasing the breadth of the novel nucleosides available for screening. Nucleoside derivatives were tested as inhibitor of HIV-1 in human peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells.