Application of Transaminases in a Disperse System for the Bioamination of Hydrophobic Substrates

The challenging bioamination of hydrophobic substrates has been attained through the employment of a disperse system consisting of a combination of a low polarity solvent (e. g. isooctane or methyl-tert-butylether), a non-ionic surfactant and a minimal amount of water. In these conditions, amine transaminases (ATA) were shown to efficiently carry out the reductive amination of variously substituted cyclohexanones, providing good conversions often coupled with a superior stereoselectivity if compared with the corresponding chemical reductive amination. An array of synthetically useful 4-substituted aminocyclohexanes was consequentially synthesized through biocatalysis, analyzed and stereochemically characterized. (Figure presented.)