Continuous Reusability using Immobilized HasApf in Chemoenzymatic Deracemization: A New Heterogeneous Enzyme Catalysis

This study found that the calibration curve of heme acquisition system A (HasA, a new reactive active species) immobilized by a porous ceramic particle (ImHApf; immobilized HasA from Pseudomonas fluorescens) can be constructed in the range of 1750–1450 cm(−1) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, and evaluated its catalytic efficiency. In the asymmetric oxidation of rac-1-(6-methoxynaphthalen-2-yl)ethanol (rac-1: a naproxen precursor), a product ketone from the (R)-isomer is desymmetrized using NaBH(4) and continuously reused even if treated with an organic solvent in 50 mM glycine–NaOH buffer at 40 °C in the absence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(P)), leading to >99% enantiomeric excess and >90% chemical yield; the activity was calculated at 0.74 ± 0.03 mU/(mg·min) and the turnover number was determined to be approximately 2 × 10(6). It was confirmed that the other sec-alcohols such as rac-1-(2-naphthyl)ethanol (rac-2) and m- and p-substituted rac-1-phenyl ethanols (rac-3ab–6ab) using ImHApf can also yield a single stereoisomer from a racemate. Therefore, HasA immobilization can be expected to become an important tool for building an environmentally friendly system that promotes industrial sustainability.