The Asymmetric Reduction of Acetophenone and Its Derivatives to (S)-Aromatic Secondary Alcohols by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa CCTCC M2014255 Resting Cells

Abstract

Enantiomerically enriched aromatic secondary alcohols and its derivatives are important chiral intermediates utilized widely in pharmacy, chemical, hormone, spices and chiral auxiliary materials. Thus, the key factors affecting the asymmetric reduction were successfully analyzed using R. mucilaginosa CCTCC M2014255 resting cells. The optimal temperature, buffer pH, co-substrate and its concentration, resting cells concentration were systematically investigated. Under the optimized conditions, acetophenone and its derivatives were effectively asymmetrically reduced by R.mucilaginosa CCTCC M2014255 while the conversion reached >99.0 % and e.e. of product were >99.0 %, respectively. These results provide a theoretical and technical support for realizing industrialized production of enantiomerically enriched aromatic secondary alcohols by microbial catalytic asymmetric synthesis.