Dynamic kinetic resolution for production of enantiopure amines and amino acids

Chiral aliphatic amines are important as precursors to drugs (e.g. tuberculostatic ones) or agrochemicals. Chiral non-natural amino acids are building blocks for peptide drugs and can make this class of low-toxicity drugs even more bioactive. An advantageous way of producing such enantiopure amines is via kinetic, enzymatic resolution of racemates. However, this results in 50 % of the 'useless' enantiomer being left over. A solution is to use a chemocatalyst to epimerize the 'useless' enantiomer, thus giving potentially access to 100 % of the enantiopure product. Such processes, termed 'dynamic kinetic resolution' (DKR), are well known for alcohols, but are much less developed for aliphatic amines. The PhD research aims at designing new catalysts for racemization of aliphatic amines, e.g. based on Ru or Ni nanoparticles, or immobilizing molecular hydrogen transfer catalysts in metal-organic frameworks. These catalysts will be combined with known acylases to realize DKRs of aliphatic amines and amino acids. Moreover, innovative enzymes, like phenyl ammonia lyases (available through collaboration with an external partner), will be employed in the context of a DKR to produce enantiopure amino acids.

Jaar van publicatie:2022

Toegankelijkheid:Embargoed