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P450 enzymes naturally perform selective hydroxylations and epoxidations of unfunctionalized hydrocarbon substrates, among other reactions. The adaptation of P450 enzymes to a particular oxidative reaction involving alkenes is of great interest for the design of new synthetically useful biocatalysts. However, the mechanism that these enzymes utilize to precisely modulate the chemoselectivity and distinguishing between competing alkene double bond epoxidations and allylic C-H hydroxylations is sometimes not clear, which hampers the rational design of specific biocatalysts. In a previous work, a P450 from Labrenzia aggregata (P450 LA1 ) was engineered in the laboratory using directed evolution to catalyze the direct oxidation of trans-β-methylstyrene to phenylacetone. The final variant, KS, was able to overcome the intrinsic preference for alkene epoxidation to directly generate a ketone product via the formation of a highly reactive carbocation intermediate. Here, additional library screening along this evolutionary lineage permitted to serendipitously detect a mutation that overcomes epoxidation and carbonyl formation by exhibiting a large selectivity of 94 % towards allylic C-H hydroxylation. A multiscalar computational methodology was applied to reveal the molecular basis towards this hydroxylation preference. Enzyme modelling suggests that introduction of a bulky substitution dramatically changes the accessible conformations of the substrate in the active site, thus modifying the enzymatic selectivity towards terminal hydroxylation and avoiding the competing epoxidation pathway, which is sterically hindered., (© 2024 The Authors. ChemBioChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Catalytic anti-Markovnikov oxidation of alkene feedstocks could simplify synthetic routes to many important molecules and solve a long-standing challenge in chemistry. Here we report the engineering of a cytochrome P450 enzyme by directed evolution to catalyze metal-oxo-mediated anti-Markovnikov oxidation of styrenes with high efficiency. The enzyme uses dioxygen as the terminal oxidant and achieves selectivity for anti-Markovnikov oxidation over the kinetically favored alkene epoxidation by trapping high-energy intermediates and catalyzing an oxo transfer, including an enantioselective 1,2-hydride migration. The anti-Markovnikov oxygenase can be combined with other catalysts in synthetic metabolic pathways to access a variety of challenging anti-Markovnikov functionalization reactions., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)

For many important reactions catalyzed in chemical laboratories, the corresponding enzymes are missing, representing a restriction in biocatalysis. Although nature provides highly developed machineries appropriate to catalyze such reactions, their potential is often ignored. This also applies to Brønsted acid catalysis, a powerful method to promote a myriad of chemical transformations. Here, we report on the unique protonation machinery of a squalene hopene cyclase (SHC). Active site engineering of this highly evolvable enzyme yielded a platform for enzymatic Brønsted acid catalysis in water. This is illustrated by activation of different functional groups (alkenes, epoxides and carbonyls), enabling the highly stereoselective syntheses of various cyclohexanoids while uncoupling SHC from polycyclization chemistry. This work highlights the potential of systematic investigation on nature's catalytic machineries to generate unique catalysts.

The use of enzymes as catalysts for the preparation of novel compounds has received steadily increasing attention over the past few years. High demands are placed on the identification of new biocatalysts for organic synthesis. The catalysis of more ambitious reactions reflects the high expectations of this field of research. Enzymes play an increasingly important role as biocatalysts in the synthesis of key intermediates for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, and new enzymatic technologies and processes have been established. Enzymes are an important part of the spectrum of catalysts available for synthetic chemistry. The advantages and applications of the most recent and attractive biocatalysts--reductases, transaminases, ammonia lyases, epoxide hydrolases, and dehalogenases--will be discussed herein and exemplified by the syntheses of interesting compounds., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The interconversion of monoterpenes is facilitated by a complex network of carbocation rearrangement pathways. Controlling these isomerization pathways is challenging when using common Brønsted and Lewis acid catalysts, which often produce product mixtures that are difficult to separate. In contrast, natural monoterpene cyclases exhibit high control over the carbocation rearrangement reactions but are reliant on phosphorylated substrates. In this study, we present engineered squalene‐hopene cyclases from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius (AacSHC) that catalyze the challenging isomerization of monoterpenes with unprecedented precision. Starting from a promiscuous isomerization of (+)‐β‐pinene, we first demonstrate noticeable shifts in the product distribution solely by introducing single point mutations. Furthermore, we showcase the tuneable cation steering by enhancing (+)‐borneol selectivity from 1 % to >90 % (>99 % de) aided by iterative saturation mutagenesis. Our combined experimental and computational data suggest that the reorganization of key aromatic residues leads to the restructuring of the water network that facilitates the selective termination of the secondary isobornyl cation. This work expands our mechanistic understanding of carbocation rearrangements and sets the stage for target‐oriented skeletal reorganization of broadly abundant terpenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terpenoids are built from isoprene building blocks and have numerous biological functions. Selective late‐stage modification of their carbon scaffold has the potential to optimize or transform their biological activities. However, the synthesis of terpenoids with a non‐natural carbon scaffold is often a challenging endeavor because of the complexity of these molecules. Herein we report the identification and engineering of (S)‐adenosyl‐l‐methionine‐dependent sterol methyltransferases for selective C‐methylation of linear terpenoids. The engineered enzyme catalyzes selective methylation of unactivated alkenes in mono‐, sesqui‐ and diterpenoids to produce C11, C16 and C21 derivatives. Preparative conversion and product isolation reveals that this biocatalyst performs C−C bond formation with high chemo‐ and regioselectivity. The alkene methylation most likely proceeds via a carbocation intermediate and regioselective deprotonation. This method opens new avenues for modifying the carbon scaffold of alkenes in general and terpenoids in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enantioselective synthesis of chiral alcohols through asymmetric addition of water across an unactivated alkene is a highly sought‐after transformation and a big challenge in catalysis. Herein we report the identification and directed evolution of a fatty acid hydratase from Marinitoga hydrogenitolerans for the highly enantioselective hydration of styrenes to yield chiral 1‐arylethanols. While directed evolution for styrene hydration was performed in the presence of heptanoic acid to mimic fatty acid binding, the engineered enzyme displayed remarkable asymmetric styrene hydration activity in the absence of the small molecule activator. The evolved styrene hydratase provided access to chiral alcohols from simple alkenes and water with high enantioselectivity (>99 : 1 e.r.) and could be applied on a preparative scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods for regioselective N‐methylation and ‐alkylation of unsaturated heterocycles with "off the shelf" reagents are highly sought‐after. This reaction could drastically simplify synthesis of privileged bioactive molecules. Here we report engineered and natural methyltransferases for challenging N‐(m)ethylation of heterocycles, including benzimidazoles, benzotriazoles, imidazoles and indazoles. The reactions are performed through a cyclic enzyme cascade that consists of two methyltransferases using only iodoalkanes or methyl tosylate as simple reagents. This method enables the selective synthesis of important molecules that are otherwise difficult to access, proceeds with high regioselectivity (r.r. up to >99 %), yield (up to 99 %), on a preparative scale, and with nearly equimolar concentrations of simple starting materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocatalysis has traditionally been viewed as a field that primarily enables access to chiral centers. This includes the synthesis of chiral alcohols, amines and carbonyl compounds, often through functional group interconversion via hydrolytic or oxidation‐reduction reactions. This limitation is partly being overcome by the design and evolution of new enzymes. Here, we provide an overview of a recently thriving research field that we summarize as biocatalytic alkylation chemistry. In the past 3–4 years, numerous new enzymes have been developed that catalyze sp3 C−C/N/O/S bond formations. These enzymes utilize different mechanisms to generate molecular complexity by coupling simple fragments with high activity and selectivity. In many cases, the engineered enzymes perform reactions that are difficult or impossible to achieve with current small‐molecule catalysts such as organocatalysts and transition‐metal complexes. This review further highlights that the design of new enzyme function is particularly successful when off‐the‐shelf synthetic reagents are utilized to access non‐natural reactive intermediates. This underscores how biocatalysis is gradually moving to a field that build molecules through selective bond forming reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective alkylation of pyrazoles could solve a challenge in chemistry and streamline synthesis of important molecules. Here we report catalyst‐controlled pyrazole alkylation by a cyclic two‐enzyme cascade. In this enzymatic system, a promiscuous enzyme uses haloalkanes as precursors to generate non‐natural analogs of the common cosubstrate S‐adenosyl‐l‐methionine. A second engineered enzyme transfers the alkyl group in highly selective C−N bond formations to the pyrazole substrate. The cosubstrate is recycled and only used in catalytic amounts. Key is a computational enzyme‐library design tool that converted a promiscuous methyltransferase into a small enzyme family of pyrazole‐alkylating enzymes in one round of mutagenesis and screening. With this enzymatic system, pyrazole alkylation (methylation, ethylation, propylation) was achieved with unprecedented regioselectivity (>99 %), regiodivergence, and in a first example on preparative scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The direct enantioselective addition of water to unactivated alkenes could simplify the synthesis of chiral alcohols and solve a long‐standing challenge in catalysis. Here we report that an engineered fatty acid hydratase can catalyze the asymmetric hydration of various terminal and internal alkenes. In the presence of a carboxylic acid decoy molecule for activation of the oleate hydratase from E. meningoseptica, asymmetric hydration of unactivated alkenes was achieved with up to 93 % conversion, excellent selectivity (>99 % ee, >95 % regioselectivity), and on a preparative scale. Engineered for success: Asymmetric hydration of unactivated, aliphatic alkenes was achieved with a fatty acid hydratase generating chiral alcohols with high conversion, excellent regio‐ and enantioselectivity, and on a preparative scale. Key for high activity is a carboxylic acid decoy molecule that activates the wildtype and engineered enzymes for alkene hydration on alternative substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variant with three changes in the amino acid sequence was able to produce methylated derivatives of linear terpenoids with high selectivity by C-methylation of an unactivated alkene. Cover Picture: Methylation of Unactivated Alkenes with Engineered Methyltransferases To Generate Non-natural Terpenoids (Angew. Keywords: Alkene Methylation; Biocatalysis; Late-Stage Modification; Methyltransferase; Terpenoids EN Alkene Methylation Biocatalysis Late-Stage Modification Methyltransferase Terpenoids 1 1 1 06/20/23 20230626 NES 230626 B A methyltransferase b from the green alga I Chlamydomonas reinhardtii i was identified and engineered for late-stage modifications of the carbon skeleton of terpenes. [Extracted from the article]

The squalene hopene cyclase from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius ( AacSHC) is a highly efficient enzyme catalyst for stereoselective Brønsted acid catalysis. We engineered AacSHC to catalyze the selective Prins cyclization of citronellal. Four active site variants were identified for the diastereoselective cyclization of ( S)-citronellal to stereoisomers (−)- iso-isopulegol, (+)-isopulegol and (−)- neo-isopulegol, respectively. The replacement of active site residues resulted in two triple variants that catalyzed the transformation of ( R)-citronellal to give the isomers (+)- neo-isopulegol and (−)-isopulegol with up to >99 % de, respectively. The newly designed library of functionally diverse active site geometries exhibits high selective control during citronellal cyclization, leading exclusively to a single diastereomer of the desired isopulegol. Whereas the cyclization of citronellal with chemical catalysts was observed to produce the isopulegol isomer with the lowest energy, the reaction with AacSHC variants proceeded with higher product selectivity. The results of this study show that variants of AacSHC are excellent catalysts for the highly selective formation of isopulegol stereoisomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imine reductases (IREDs) have emerged as promising biocatalysts for the synthesis of chiral amines. In this study, the asymmetric imine reductase-catalyzed intermolecular reductive amination with NADPH as the hydrogen source was investigated. A highly chemo- and stereoselective imine reductase was applied for the reductive amination by using a panel of carbonyls with different amine nucleophiles. Primary and secondary amine products were generated in moderate to high yields with high enantiomeric excess values. The formation of the imine intermediate was studied between carbonyl substrates and methylamine in aqueous solution in the pH range of 4.0 to 9.0 by 1H NMR spectroscopy. We further measured the kinetics of the reductive amination of benzaldehyde with methylamine. This imine reductase-catalyzed approach constitutes a powerful and direct method for the synthesis of valuable amines under mild reaction conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of enzymes as catalysts for the preparation of novel compounds has received steadily increasing attention over the past few years. High demands are placed on the identification of new biocatalysts for organic synthesis. The catalysis of more ambitious reactions reflects the high expectations of this field of research. Enzymes play an increasingly important role as biocatalysts in the synthesis of key intermediates for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, and new enzymatic technologies and processes have been established. Enzymes are an important part of the spectrum of catalysts available for synthetic chemistry. The advantages and applications of the most recent and attractive biocatalysts-reductases, transaminases, ammonia lyases, epoxide hydrolases, and dehalogenases-will be discussed herein and exemplified by the syntheses of interesting compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In organic synthesis the Friedel–Crafts alkylation is of eminent importance, as it is a key reaction in many synthetic routes. A general access to enzymatic Friedel–Crafts alkylations would be very beneficial due to the high selectivity of biocatalysts. We used designed polyprenyl phenyl ethers to specifically address this reaction by using squalene hopene cyclases as catalysts. Polycyclic products with aromatic rings constituting important biological active compounds were obtained. Our results demonstrate that squalene hopene cyclases can be utilized for Friedel–Crafts alkylations and reveal the potential of these enzymes for chiral Brønsted acid catalysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Review: recent advances in enzyme catalysis for the synthesis of challenging chemicals; 128 refs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]