Chiral amines are valuable compounds in the pharmaceutical industry. These valuable compounds have been made via organocatalysis, metallocatalysis but in the last two decades also via biocatalysis. Enzymes are highly selective, making them attractive catalysts to target chiral amine synthesis. The aim of this dissertation was to apply different biocatalytic pathways with oxidoreductases to synthesize chiral amines.@en

Utilisation of fatty acids generally relies on pre-existing functional groups such as the carboxylate group or C=C-double bonds. Addition of new functionalities into the hydrocarbon part opens up new possibilities for fatty acid valorisation. In this contribution we demonstrate the synthetic potential of a peroxygenase mutant AaeUPO−Fett for selective fatty acid oxyfunctionalisation. The ω-1 hydroxy fatty acid (esters) produced are further transformed into lactones, alcohols, esters and amines via multi-enzyme cascades thereby paving the way for new fatty acid valorisation pathways.

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Native amine dehydrogenases (nat-AmDHs) catalyze the (S)-stereoselective reductive amination of various ketones and aldehydes in the presence of high concentrations of ammonia. Based on the structure of CfusAmDH from Cystobacter fuscus complexed with Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP+) and cyclohexylamine, we previously hypothesized a mechanism involving the attack at the electrophilic carbon of the carbonyl by ammonia followed by delivery of the hydride from the reduced nicotinamide cofactor on the re-face of the prochiral ketone. The direct reduction of carbonyl substrates into the corresponding alcohols requires a similar active site architecture and was previously reported as a minor side reaction of some native amine dehydrogenases and variants. Here we describe the ketoreductase (KRED) activity of a set of native amine dehydrogenases and variants, which proved to be significant in the absence of ammonia in the reaction medium but negligible in its presence. Conducting this study on a large set of substrates revealed the heterogeneity of this secondary ketoreductase activity, which was dependent upon the enzyme/substrate pairs considered. In silico docking experiments permitted the identification of some relationships between ketoreductase activity and the structural features of the enzymes. Kinetic studies of MsmeAmDH highlighted the superior performance of this native amine dehydrogenases as a ketoreductase but also its very low activity towards the reverse reaction of alcohol oxidation.@en

In this study, we developed a new bienzymatic reaction to produce enantioenriched phenylethanols. In a first step, the recombinant, unspecific peroxygenase from Agrocybe aegerita (rAaeUPO) was used to oxidise ethylbenzene and its derivatives to the corresponding ketones (prochiral intermediates) followed by enantioselective reduction into the desired (R)- or (S)-phenylethanols using the (R)-selective alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) from Lactobacillus kefir (LkADH) or the (S)-selective ADH from Rhodococcus ruber (ADH-A). In a one-pot two-step cascade, 11 ethylbenzene derivatives were converted into the corresponding chiral alcohols at acceptable yields and often excellent enantioselectivity.

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Access to chiral amines with more than one stereocentre remains challenging, although an increasing number of methods are emerging. Here we developed a proof-of-concept bi-enzymatic cascade, consisting of an ene reductase and amine dehydrogenase (AmDH), to afford chiral diastereomerically enriched amines in one pot. The asymmetric reduction of unsaturated ketones and aldehydes by ene reductases from the Old Yellow Enzyme family (OYE) was adapted to reaction conditions for the reductive amination by amine dehydrogenases. By studying the substrate profiles of both reported biocatalysts, thirteen unsaturated carbonyl substrates were assayed against the best duo OYE/AmDH. Low (5 %) to high (97 %) conversion rates were obtained with enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess of up to 99 %. We expect our established bi-enzymatic cascade to allow access to chiral amines with both high enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess from varying alkene substrates depending on the combination of enzymes.

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Chiral amines are valuable compounds for their use as building blocks for pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries. Previously, chiral amines were made with metals as catalysts, but these are unsustainable and difficult to remove from the product. Organocatalysis is a sustainable alternative, but requires chiral ligands, which are costly. Over the last decade, biocatalytic methods have been developed as well. Our goal was to produce chiral amines with our designed bi-enzymatic cascades, containing an ene reductase and amine dehydrogenase. We produced and purified ene reductases and assayed the asymmetric reduction of our proposed substrate scope, consisting of unsaturated ketones and aldehydes. We also investigated the impact of multiple reaction conditions on these performances that are optimal for amine dehydrogenases. Starting with 10 mM of substrate, we obtained concentrations up to 9.7 mM amine. Also, we obtained 3-methylcyclohexylamine with an enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess up to 99%. Therefore, we conclude that this bi-enzymatic cascade is capable of producing chiral amines with both high enantiomeric and diastereomeric excess. Further research to perform cascades on a larger scale is recommended.