Production of enantiomerically enriched chiral carbinols using whole-cell biocatalyst

Abstract

Biocatalytic asymmetric reduction of ketone is an efficient method for the production of chiral carbinols. The study indicates selective bioreduction of different ketones (1–8) to their respective (R)-alcohols (1a–8a) in low to high selectivity (0- >99%) with good yields (11–96%). In this work, whole-cell of Lactobacillus kefiri P2 catalysed enantioselective reduction of various prochiral ketones was investigated. (R)-4-Phenyl-2-butanol 2a, which is used as a precursor to antihypertensive agents and spasmolytics (anti-epileptic agents), was obtained using L kefiri P2 in 99% conversion and 91% enantiomeric excess (ee). Moreover, bioreduction of 2-methyl-1-phenylpropan-1-one substrate 8, containing a branched alkyl chain and difficult to asymmetric reduction with chemical catalysts as an enantioselective, to (R)-2-methyl-1-phenylpropan-1-ol (8a) in enantiomerically pure form was carried out in excellent yield (96%). The gram-scale production was carried out, and 9.70 g of (R)-2-methyl-1-phenylpropan-1-ol (8a) in enantiomerically pure form was obtained in 96% yield. Also especially, the yield and gram scale of (R)-2-methyl-1-phenylpropan-1-ol (8a) synthesised through catalytic asymmetric reduction using the biocatalyst was the highest report so far. The efficiency of L kefiri P2 for the conversion of the substrates and ee of products were markedly influenced by the steric factors of the substrates. This is a cheap, clean and eco-friendly process for production of chiral carbinols compared to chemical processes.