Enzymatic transformation of betulinic acid by growing cells of microorganisms provided several hydroxylated and oxidized products. Bacillus megaterium SC16644 gave 7β,15α-dihydroxybetulinic acid, 7β,15α-dihydroxybetulonic acid, and a new compound 7β,15α,23-trihydroxybetulinic acid [3β,7β,15α,23-tetrahydroxy-lup-20(29)en-28-oic acid]. Another strain of B. megaterium SC6394 produced 30-oxobetulonic acid, and a mixture of 30-hydroxybetulonic acid and a new compound 7β-hydroxy-30-oxobetulonic acid [7β-hydroxy-3,30-dioxo-lup-20(29)en-28-oic acid]. Three products were obtained from the biotransformation of betulinic acid by Streptomyces fragilis SC16401: 7β-hydroxybetulonic acid, and two new compounds 2α,7β-dihydroxybetulinic acid [2α,3β,7β-trihydroxy-lup-20(29)en-28-oic acid] and 2-oxo-7β-hydroxy-betulinic acid [2-oxo-3β,7β-dihydroxy-lup-20(29)en-28-oic acid]. Cunninghamella elegans SC16025 gave 25-hydroxybetulinic acid from betulinic acid. Oxidation of betulinic acid by Aspergillus terreus SC16513 led to two A-ring fission products: 4-hydroxy-3,4-seco-lup-20(29)-en-3,28-dioic acid and 3,4-seco-lup-20(29), 4(23)-dien-3,28-dioic acid. B. megaterium SC16644 catalyzed transformation of betulonic acid provided 7β-hydroxybetulonic acid, 7β,15α-dihydroxybetulonic acid, and a new compound 7β,15α,30-trihydroxybetulonic acid [3-oxo-7β,15α,30-trihydroxy-lup-20(29)en-28-oic acid].

Physicochemical properties constitute a key factor for the success of a drug candidate. Whereas many strategies to improve the physicochemical properties of small heterocycle-type leads exist, complex hydrocarbon skeletons are more challenging to derivatize because of the absence of functional groups. A variety of C-H oxidation methods have been explored on the betulin skeleton to improve the solubility of this very bioactive, yet poorly water-soluble, natural product. Capitalizing on the innate reactivity of the molecule, as well as the few molecular handles present on the core, allowed oxidations at different positions across the pentacyclic structure. Enzymatic oxidations afforded several orthogonal oxidations to chemical methods. Solubility measurements showed an enhancement for many of the synthesized compounds.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

An enzymatic reduction process was developed to convert the ketone 2-(6-oxo-2-phenyladamantan-2-yl)acetic acid to the chiral alcohol 2-((2S, 6S)-6-hydroxy-2-phenyladamantan-2-yOacetic acid and to convert the fluoro ketone 2-(2-(4-fluoropheny1)-6-oxoadamantan-2-yl)acetic acid to the chiral alcohol 24(2S,6S)-2-(4-fluoropheny1)-6-hydroxyadamantan-2-yl)acetic acid. These chiral adamantanols are intermediates for the 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase inhibitors 24(2S,6S)-6hydroxy-2-phenyladamantan-2-yl)-1-(3-hydroxyazetidin-l-yl)ethanone and 24(2S,6S)-2-(4-fluoropheny1)-6-hydroxyadamantan-2-yl)-1-(3-hydroxyazetidin-1-yl)ethanone, respectively. Initial batches of both intermediates were prepared with a commercial ketoreductase giving yields near 100% with 96% ee. A more selective ketoreductase was purified 1800-fold from Candida utilis ATCC 42181 and then cloned and expressed in Escherichia coll. The reaction requires the cofactor NADPH which was regenerated during initial batches using a commercial glucose dehydrogenase. In later work a glucose dehydrogenase from Gluconobacter oxydans was doned and expressed in the same E. coli strain together with the ketoreductase. To allow easy storage and shipment of the two enzymes, the E coli cell paste was lyophilized to produce a stable form of the enzymes.

(S)-1-Cyclopropyl-2-methoxyethanamine is a key chiral intermediate for the synthesis of a corticotropin-releasing factor-1(CRF-1) receptor antagonist. Resolution of the racemic amine by transaminase from Vibrio fluvalis gave a 38% yield of the S-amine with 53% ee. Resolution by lipase-catalyzed acylation provided the S-amine in 35% yield with 91% ee. With limited success of these resolution approaches, an efficient chemo-enzymatic route to (S)-1-cyclopropyl-2-methoxyethanamine was devised starting from methylcyclopropyl ketone. Permanganate oxidation of the ketone gave cyclopropylglyoxylic acid, which was converted to (S)-cyclopropylglycine by reductive amination using leucine dehydrogenase from Thermoactinomyces intermedius with NADH cofactor recycling by formate dehydrogenase from Pichia pastoris. Both enzymes were cloned and expressed in recombinant E. coli. (S)-Cyclopropylglycine obtained from enzymatic reductive amination was isolated as the N-Boc derivative and converted to the desired amine by reduction, methylation, and deprotection to give (S)1-cyclopropyl-2-methoxyethanamine in 62% overall yield from cyclopropylglyoxylic acid, with no detectable R-enantiomer.

Biotransformation of the highly substituted pyridine derivative 2-amino-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine by Cunninghamella elegans ATCC 26269 yielded three products each with a molecular weight of 169 Da which were identified as 2-amino-5-hydroxy-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine, 2-amino-4-hydroxymethyl-3-nitropyridine, and 2-amino-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine-1-oxide. Biotransformation by Streptomyces antibioticus ATCC 14890 gave two different products each with a molecular weight of 169 Da; one was acid labile and converted to the other stable product under acidic conditions. The structure of the stable product was established as 2-amino-4-methyl-3-nitro-6(1H)-pyridinone, and that of the less stable product was assigned as its tautomer 2-amino-6-hydroxy-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine. Four of the five biotransformation products are new compounds. Several strains of Aspergillus also converted the same substrate to the lactam 2-amino-4-methyl-3-nitro-6(1H)-pyridinone. Microbial hydroxylation by C. elegans was found to be inhibited by sulfate ion. In order to improve the yield and productivity of the 5-hydroxylation reaction by C. elegans, critical process parameters were determined and Design of Experiments (DOE) analyses were performed. Biotransformation by C. elegans was scaled up to 15-l fermentors providing 2-amino-5-hydroxy-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine at ca. 13 % yield in multi-gram levels. A simple isolation process not requiring chromatography was developed to provide purified 2-amino-5-hydroxy-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine of excellent quality.

The D-amino acid (R)-2-amino-3-(7-methyl-1 H-indazol-5-yl)propanoic acid (3) is a key intermediate needed for synthesis of a drug candidate compound. Enzymatic routes to 3 were explored. D-Amino acid 3 was prepared in 68% isolated yield with >99% ee from racemic amino acid 1 using L-amino acid deaminase from Proteus mirabilis expressed in Escherichia coli in combination with a commercially available D-transaminase using D-alanine as amino donor. The D-enantiomer was also prepared in 79% isolated yield with >99% ee from the corresponding keto acid 2 using the D-transaminase with racemic alanine as the amino donor. The rate and yield of this reaction could be accelerated by addition of lactate dehydrogenase (with NAD, formate and formate dehydrogenase to regenerate NADH) to remove the inhibitory pyruvate produced during the reaction. A D-transaminase was purified from a soil organism identified as Bacillus thuringiensis and cloned and expressed in E. coli. The D-transaminase was very effective for the preparation of 3 and gave a nearly complete conversion of 2 to 3 without the need for additional enzymes for pyruvate removal.

Screening was carried out to identify strains useful for the preparation of (R)-1-cyclopropylethylamine and (R)-sec-butylamine by resolution of the racemic amines with an (S)-specific transaminase. Several Bacillus megaterium strains from our culture collection as well as several soil isolates were found to have the desired activity for the resolution of the racemic amines to give the (R)-enantiomers. Using an extract of the best strain, Bacillus megaterium SC6394, the reaction was shown to be a transamination requiring pyruvate as amino acceptor and pyridoxal phosphate as a cofactor. Initial batches of both amines were produced using whole cells of Bacillus megaterium SC6394. The transaminase was purified to homogeneity to obtain N-terminal as well as internal amino acid sequences. The sequences were used to design polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers to enable cloning and expression of the transaminase in E. coli SC16578. In contrast to the original B. megaterium process, pH control and aeration were not required for the resolution of sec-butylamine and an excess of pyruvate was not consumed by the recombinant cells. The resolution of sec-butylamine (0.68M) using whole cells of E. coli SC16578 was scaled up to give (R)-sec-butylamine-1/2H(2)SO(4) in 46.6% isolated yield with 99.2% ee. An alternative isolation procedure was also used to isolate (R)-sec-butylamine as the free base.

The non-proteinogenic amino acid 2-(3-hydroxy-1-adamantyl)-(2S)-aminoethanoic acid [2, (S)-3-hydroxyadamantylglycine], is a key intermediate required for the synthesis of Saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor under development for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Keto acid 2-(3-hydroxy-1-adamantyl)-2-oxoethanoic acid (1) was converted to (S)-3-hydroxyadamantylglycine by reductive amination using a phenylalanine dehydrogenase from Thermoactinomyces intermedius expressed in a modified form in Pichia pastoris or Escherichia coli. NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) produced during the reaction was recycled to NADH (reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) using formate dehydrogenase. Pichia pastoris produces an endogenous formate dehydrogenase when grown on methanol, and the corresponding gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli. The modified phenylalanine dehydrogenase contains two amino acid changes at the C-terminus and a 12-amino acid extension of the C-terminus. The modified enzyme is more effective with keto acid 1 than the wild-type enzyme, but less effective with the natural substrate, phenylpyruvate. Production of multi-kg batches was originally carried out with extracts of Pichia pastoris expressing the modified phenylalanine dehydrogenase from Thermoactinomyces intermedius and endogenous formate dehydrogenase, and further scaled up using a preparation of the two enzymes expressed in E. coli.

BMS-353645, also known as sordarin, was of interest based on its activity against pathogenic fungi. The objective of these studies was to provide high quality starting substrate for chemical modification aimed at further improving biological activity, with particular interest in the inhibition of Aspergillus . In the work presented here, Design of Experiments, or DOE, was successfully combined with traditional approaches to significantly improve sordarin yields in fermentation flasks. Overall, yields were increased 25-fold from <100 μg/g to as high as 2,609 μg/g in flasks through the use of various medium and conduction changes supplemented with DOE. The improved process was then successfully scaled to pilot plant tanks with the best batch producing 2,389 μg/g sordarin at the 250-l scale.

The synthesis of the leading candidate compound in an anticancer program required (S)-2chloro-1-(3-chlorophenyl)-ethanol as an intermediate. Other possible candidate compounds used analogues of the S-alcohol. Of 119 microbial cultures screened for reduction of the corresponding ketone to the S-alcohol, Hansenula polymorpha ATCC 58401 (73.8% ee) and Rhodococcus globerulus ATCC 21505 (71.8% ee) had the highest enantioselectivity for producing the desired alcohol. A ketoreductase from Hansenula polymorpha, after purification to homogeneity, gave the S-alcohol with 100% ee. Amino acid sequences from the purified enzyme were used to design PCR primers for cloning the ketoreductase. The cloned ketoreductase required NADP(H), had a subunit molecular weight of 29,220 and a native molecular weight of 88,000. The cloned ketoreductase was expressed in E. coli together with a cloned glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to allow regeneration of the NADPH required by the ketoreductase. An extract of E. coli containing the two recombinant enzymes was used to reduce 2-chloro-1-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)-ethanone and two related ketones to the corresponding S-alcohols. Intact E. coli cells provided with glucose were used to prepare (S)-2-chloro-1-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl) -ethanol in 89% yield with 100% ee.

6-Hydroxybuspirone is an active metabolite of the antianxiety drug buspirone. The (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of 6-hydroxybuspirone were prepared using an enzymatic resolution process. l-Amino acid acylase from Aspergillus melleus (Amano Acylase 30000) was used to hydrolyze racemic 6-acetoxybuspirone to (S)-6-hydroxybuspirone in 95% ee after 45% conversion. The remaining (R)-6-acetoxybuspirone with 88% ee was converted to (R)-6-hydroxybuspirone by acid hydrolysis. The ee of both enantiomers could be improved to 99% by crystallization as a metastable polymorph. (S)-6-Hydroxybuspirone was also obtained in 88% ee and 14.5% yield by hydroxylation of buspirone using Streptomyces antibioticus ATCC 14890.

The synthesis and biological activity of sordarin oxazepine derivatives are described. The key step features a regioselective oxidation of an unprotected triol followed by double reductive amination to afford the ring-closed products. The spectrum of antifungal activity for these novel derivatives includes coverage of Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, and Cryptococcus neoformans.

[4S-(4I.7I,10aJ)]1-Octahydro-5-oxo-4-[phenylmethoxy)carbonyl]amino]-7H-pyrido-[2,1-b] [1,3]thiazepine-7-carboxylic acid methyl ester (BMS-199541-01) is a key chiral intermediate for the synthesis of Omapatrilat (BMS-186716), a new vasopeptidease inhibitor under development. By using a selective enrichment culture technique we have isolated a strain of Sphingomonas paucimobilis SC 16113, which contains a novel L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase. This enzyme catalyzed the oxidation of the epsilon-amino group of lysine in the dipeptide dimer N-2-[N[phenyl-methoxy)-carbonyl] L-homocysteinyl] L-lysine)1,1-disulphide (BMS-201391-01) to produce BMS-199541-01. The aminotransferase reaction required alpha-ketoglutarate as the amino acceptor. Glutamate formed during this reaction was recycled back to alpha-ketoglutarate by glutamate oxidase from Streptomyces noursei SC 6007. Fermentation processes were developed for growth of S. paucimobilis SC 16113 and S. noursei SC 6007 for the production of L-lysine epsilon-amino transferase and glutamate oxidase, respectively. L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase was purified to homogeneity and N-terminal and internal peptides sequences of the purified protein were determined. The mot wt of L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase is 81 000 Da and subunit size is 40 000 Da. L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase gene (lat gene) from S. paucimobilis SC 16113 was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Glutamate oxidase was purified to homogeneity from S. noursei SC 6003. The mol wt of glutamate oxidase is 125 000 Da and subunit size is 60 000 Da. The glutamate oxiadase gene from S. noursei SC 6003 was cloned and expressed in Streptomyces lividans. The biotransformation process was developed for the conversion of BMS-201391-01 to BMS-199541-01 by using L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase expressed in E. coli. In the biotransformation process, for conversion of BMS-201391-01 (CBZ protecting group) to BMS-199541-01, a reaction yield of 65-70 65-70 M% was obtained depending upon reaction conditions used in the process. Phenylacetyl or phenoxyacetyl protected analogues of BMS-201391-01 also served as substrates for L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase giving reaction yields of 70 M% for the corresponding BMS-199541-01 analogs. Two other dipeptides N-[N[(phenylmethoxy)carbonyl]-L-methionyl]-L-lysine (BMS-203528) and N,2-[S-acetyl-N-[(phenylmethoxy)carbonyl]-L-homocysteinyl]-L-lysine (BMS-204556) were also substrates for L-lysine epsilon-aminotransferase. N-alpha-protected (CBZ or BOC)-L-lysine were also oxidized by L-lysine E-aminotransferase. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.