Genetically Tunable Enzymatic C‒H Amidation for Lactam Synthesis

A major challenge in carbon‒hydrogen (C‒H) bond functionalization is to have the catalyst control precisely where a reaction takes place. Here we report engineered cytochrome P450 enzymes that perform unprecedented enantioselective C‒H amidation reactions and control the site selectivity to divergently construct β-, γ- and δ-lactams, completely overruling the inherent reactivities of the C‒H bonds. The enzymes, expressed in Escherichia coli cells, accomplish this abiological carbon‒nitrogen (C‒N) bond formation via reactive iron-bound carbonyl nitrenes generated from nature-inspired acyl-protected hydroxamate precursors. This transformation is exceptionally efficient (up to 1,020,000 total turnovers) and selective (up to 25:1 regioselectivity and 96% enantiomeric excess), and can be performed easily on preparative scale