Jan Deska

Enzymatic aerobic ring rearrangement of optically active furylcarbinols

Biogenic furans are currently discussed as highly attractive alternative feedstock in a post-fossil society; thus, also the creation of sustainable furan valorization pathways appears of great importance. Here an artificial Achmatowicz monooxygenase activity for the aerobic ring expansion of furans is achieved by the combination of commercial glucose oxidase as oxygen-activating biocatalyst and wild-type chloroperoxidase as oxygen-transfer mediator, providing a biological ready-to-use solution for this truly synthetic furan rearrangement. In concert with enzymatic transformations for the enantioselective preparation of optically active furylcarbinols, purely biocatalytic reaction cascades for the stereocontrolled construction of complex pyranones are obtained, exhibiting high functional group tolerance even to oxidation-sensitive moieties.

Bioinduced room temperature methanol reforming

Imitating natures approach in nucleophile-activated formaldehyde dehydrogenation, air-stable ruthenium complexes proved to be exquisite catalysts for the dehydrogenation of formaldehyde hydrate as well as for the transfer hydrogenation to unsaturated organic substrates at loadings as low as 0.5 mol %. Concatenation of the chemical hydrogen-fixation route with an oxidase-mediated activation of methanol gives an artificial methylotrophic in vitro metabolism providing methanol-derived reduction equivalents for synthetic hydrogenation purposes. Moreover, for the first time methanol reforming at room temperature was achieved on the basis of this bioinduced dehydrogenation path delivering hydrogen gas from aqueous methanol.

Oxonium ylide rearrangement of enzymatically desymmetrized glutarates.

The combination of an enzyme-mediated enantioselective desymmetrization of readily available 3-benzyloxyglutarates and subsequent rhodium-catalyzed oxonium ylide rearrangement of their corresponding in situ derived diazo ketones offers a very concise and highly stereoselective access to functionalized tetrahydrofuranone building blocks.

Enzymatic halocyclization of allenic alcohols and carboxylates: a biocatalytic entry to functionalized O-heterocycles

Chloroperoxidase from Caldariomyces fumago catalyzes the aerobic oxidative halocyclization of allenic alcohols and carboxylates yielding functionalized furan and pyran heterocycles as valuable synthetic scaffolds. Thanks to an oxidase-initiated redox cascade, simple halide salts – in combination with air and glucose – act as stoichiometric reagents for the in situ generation of reactive halonium species. Under the mild reaction conditions in an aqueous emulsion medium, the stereochemical integrity of diastereo- and enantioenriched allenes remains uncompromised and chiral dihydrofurans can be obtained via 5-endo-trig cyclizations with perfect axis-to-centre chirality transfer.

Migratory Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Carbocyclic Allylic Alcohols

A novel migratory dynamic kinetic resolution based on the interplay between an enzyme acylation catalyst and a heterogeneous Brønsted acid as an isomerization/racemization catalyst gives rise to carbocyclic allylic esters with excellent stereoselectivity from readily available tertiary carbinols. An easy-to-use teabag setup combining resin-bound catalysts, a biphasic isooctane-water solvent system, and a highly lipophilic acyl donor efficiently suppresses side reactions and allows for the preparation of functionalized carbocyclic building blocks in high yields and optical purity.

Self-Sufficient Formaldehyde-to-Methanol Conversion by Organometallic Formaldehyde Dismutase Mimic

The catalytic networks of methylotrophic organisms, featuring redox enzymes for the activation of one-carbon moieties, can serve as great inspiration in the development of novel homogeneously catalyzed pathways for the interconversion of C1 molecules at ambient conditions. An imidazolium-tagged arene-ruthenium complex was identified as an effective functional mimic of the bacterial formaldehyde dismutase, which provides a new and highly selective route for the conversion of formaldehyde to methanol in absence of any external reducing agents. Moreover, secondary amines are reductively methylated by the organometallic dismutase mimic in a redox self-sufficient manner with formaldehyde acting both as carbon source and reducing agent.

Kirmse–Doyle‐ and Stevens‐Type Rearrangements of Glutarate‐Derived Oxonium Ylides

A novel chemoenzymatic synthetic cascade enables the preparation of densely decorated tetrahydrofuran building blocks. Here, the lipase-catalyzed desymmetrization of 3-alkoxyglutarates renders highly enantioenriched carboxylic acid intermediates, whose subsequent activation and oxonium ylide rearrangement by means of rhodium or copper complexes furnishes functionalized O-heterocycles with excellent diastereoselectivity. The two-step protocol offers a streamlined and flexible synthesis of tetrahydrofuranones bearing different benzylic, allylic or allenylic side chains with full control over multiple stereogenic centers.

Fermentative production of extracellular amylase from novel amylase producer, Tuber maculatum mycelium, and its characterization

Abstract Truffles are symbiotic hypogeous edible fungi (form of mushroom) that form filamentous mycelia in their initial phase of the growth cycle as well as a symbiotic association with host plant roots. In the present study, Tuber maculatum mycelia were isolated and tested for extracellular amylase production at different pH on solid agar medium. Furthermore, the mycelium was subjected to submerged fermentation for amylase production under different culture conditions such as variable carbon sources and their concentrations, initial medium pH, and incubation time. The optimized conditions after the experiments included soluble starch (0.5% w/v), initial medium pH of 7.0, and incubation time of 7 days, at room temperature (22 ± 2 °C) under static conditions which resulted in 1.41 U/mL of amylase. The amylase thus obtained was further characterized for its biocatalytic properties and found to have an optimum activity at pH 5.0 and a temperature of 50 °C. The enzyme showed good thermostability at 50 °C by retaining 98% of the maximal activity after 100 min of incubation. The amylase activity was marginally enhanced in presence of Cu2+ and Na+ and slightly reduced by K+, Ca2+, Fe2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Zn2+, and Mn2+ ions at 1 mM concentration.

Enantioconvergent Biocatalytic Redox Isomerization

Abstract Alcohol dehydrogenases can act as powerful catalysts in the preparation of optically pure γ‐hydroxy‐δ‐lactones by means of an enantioconvergent dynamic redox isomerization of readily available Achmatowicz‐type pyranones. Imitating the traditionally metal‐mediated “borrowing hydrogen” approach to shuffle hydrides across molecular architectures and interconvert functional groups, this chemoinspired and purely biocatalytic interpretation effectively expands the enzymatic toolbox and provides new opportunities in the assembly of multienzyme cascades and tailor‐made cellular factories.