Biocatalytic enantioselective formation and ring-opening of oxetanes

Abstract Although biocatalysis offers complementary or alternative approaches to traditional synthetic methods, the limited range of available enzymatic reactions currently poses challenges in synthesizing a diverse array of desired compounds. Consequently, there is a significant demand for developi...

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Main Authors: Xia Hua, Yuan-Fei Wang, Xiao Jin, Hong-Yin Yu, Hui-Hui Wang, Yong-Zheng Chen, Nan-Wei Wan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56463-z
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Summary:Abstract Although biocatalysis offers complementary or alternative approaches to traditional synthetic methods, the limited range of available enzymatic reactions currently poses challenges in synthesizing a diverse array of desired compounds. Consequently, there is a significant demand for developing novel biocatalytic processes to enable reactions that were previously unattainable. Herein, we report the discovery and subsequent protein engineering of a unique halohydrin dehalogenase to develop a biocatalytic platform for enantioselective formation and ring-opening of oxetanes. This biocatalytic platform, exhibiting high efficiency, excellent enantioselectivity, and broad scopes, facilitates the preparative-scale synthesis of chiral oxetanes and a variety of chiral γ-substituted alcohols. Additionally, both the enantioselective oxetane formation and ring-opening processes are proven scalable for large-scale transformations at high substrate concentrations, and can be integrated efficiently in a one-pot, one-catalyst cascade system. This work expands the enzymatic toolbox for non-natural reactions and will promote further exploration of the catalytic repertoire of halohydrin dehalogenases in synthetic and pharmaceutical chemistry.
ISSN:2041-1723