The fungus Mortierella isabellina ATCC 42613 catalyses the biotransformation of substituted-aryl methyl sulfides to give sulfoxides of predominantly ( R) configuration; of aryl-substituted alkenes to give chiral vicinal diols; and of various phenylalkanes and phenylcycloalkanes to give ( R)-configuration benzylic alcohols. The nature of the products from all these processes may be accounted for by a single model based on restrictive space descriptors that can be used to rationalise these reactions, and which is proposed as a predictor of the outcome of the M. isabellina-catalyzed oxidations of similar substrates.
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