Biocatalytic Transamination for the Asymmetric Synthesis of Pyridylalkylamines. Structural and Activity Features in the Reactivity of Transaminases

A set of transaminases has been investigated for the biocatalytic amination of 1-(4-chloropyridin-2-yl)alkan-1-ones. The influence of the chain length of the n-1-alkanone at the C-2 position of the pyridine has been studied in the reaction with different (R)- and (S)-selective transaminases. Thus, enantiopure amines were isolated with high purity starting from a wide selection of prochiral ketones. In order to gain a deeper understanding about the substrate specificity of different transaminases, additional structural features were considered by variation of the acetyl group position on the pyridine ring and the use of related acetophenone derivatives