A new method for the chemical-enzymatic synthesis of optically pure L-amino acids from glycine

Yu. N. Belokon’, K. A. Kochetkov, V. I. Tararov, T. F. Savel'eva, N. V. Fileva, N. S. Garbalinskaya, M. B. Saporovskaya. Z. B. Bacasova, A. G. Rait

A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Elementoorganic Compounds, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow

Abstract: A new method for the efficient chemical-enzymatic synthesis of some optically pure aromatic α-amino acids has been developed. Schiff's based derived from ethyl glycinate or alaninate and benzaldehyde were alkylated with substituted benzyl bromide under phase-transfer conditions followed by the hydrolysis with α-chymotripsin in aqueous-organic medium to yield L-amine acids precipitated from aqueous acetonitrile. The remaining Schiff's base of D-amino acids esters were hydrolysed by HCL into D-amino acids. The enantiomeric purities of the amino acids were higher than 95%.

Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry 1991, 17 (6):773-778

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