Engineering substrate promiscuity in halophilic alcohol dehydrogenase (HvADH2) by in silico design

An alcohol dehydrogenase from the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii (HvADH2) has been engineered by rational design to broaden its substrate scope towards the conversion of a range of aromatic substrates, including flurbiprofenol, that is an intermediate of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, flurbiprofen. Wild-type HvADH2 showed minimal activity with flurbiprofenol (11.1 mU/mg). A homology model of HvADH2 was built and docking experiments with this substrate revealed that the biphenyl rings of flurbiprofenol formed strong interactions with residues F85 and F108, preventing its optimal binding in the active site. Mutations at position 85 however did not increase activity. Site directed mutagenesis at position F108 allowed the identification of three variants showing a significant (up to 2.3-fold) enhancement of activity towards flurbiprofenol, when compared to wild-type HvADH2. Interestingly, F108G variant did not show the classic inhibition in the presence of (R)-enantiomer when tested with rac-1-phenylethanol, underling its potential in racemic resolution of secondary alcohols

Direct enantio-convergent transformation of racemic substrates without racemization or symmetrization

Asymmetric reactions that transform racemic mixtures into enantio-enriched products are in high demand, however, classical kinetic resolution (KR) can afford enantiopure compounds in <50% yield even in an ideal case. Many deracemization processes thus have been developed including dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) and dynamic kinetic asymmetric transformation (DYKAT), which can provide enantio-enriched products even after complete conversion of the racemic starting materials; however, these dynamic processes require racemization or symmetrization of the substrates or intermediates. We demonstrate a first chemical direct enantio-convergent transformation without racemization or symmetrization process. The copper(I)-catalysed asymmetric allylic substitution of a racemic allyl ethers afforded a single enantiomer of an α-chiral allylboronates with complete conversion and high enantioselectivity (up to 98% ee); one enantiomer of the substrate undergoes an anti-SN2'-type reaction whereas the other enantiomer reacts via a syn-SN2' pathway. The products, α-chiral allylboronates, cannot be prepared by dynamic procedures, were used in construction of all-carbon quaternary stereocentres