NEW BIOCATALYST FOR CHIRAL SYNTHESIS IN ORGANIC MEDIA

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Improvements in biocatalyst solubility, separability and reusability that would increase the utility of biocatalysis in industrial chemistry are the goals of this proposal. Based on a background of development of practical, recoverable enzymatic reagents at Polium and a background in development of novel soluble polymer supports for synthesis and catalysis at TAMU, new strategies to develop soluble but recoverable polymer-bound enzymatic reagents are proposed. Using photoresponsive groups and polyacrylamides, we propose to prepare lipase biocatalysts that will be reversibly soluble and active in different organic solvents. The polymer supports proposed below are designed to provide handles for the support and recovery of active enzymes and to incorporate pendant groups that lead to organic solvent solubility. In addition, these polymer-enzyme conjugates will incorporate photosensitive azoarenes or spirobenzopyran groups whose geometrical or structural isomerization on irradiation will change the polymer's solubility. The result will be 'smart' polymer-bound enzymes whose solubility in organic solvents can be turned on or off by photoirradiation. Target substrates for the biocatalysts based on Pseudomonas cepacia lipase will include important intermediates like beta-amino acids, ACE-inhibitors, and derivatives of 1-alkylamino-3-aryloxy-2-propanol. The homochiral versions of all of these targets have important pharmaceutical applications. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not Available.