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Kinetic resolution of a series of fluorinated styrene oxide derivatives was studied using halohydrin dehalogenase. A mutant HheC-W249P catalysed nucleophilic ring-opening with azide and cyanide ions with excellent enantioselectivity (E-values up to >200), which gives access to various enantiopure β-substituted alcohols and epoxides. It was found that the enzyme tolerates substrates in concentrations over 50 mM. However, different side reactions were observed at elevated concentrations and with prolonged reaction time. The biocatalytic azidolysis and cyanolysis of racemic 4-trifluoromethylstyrene oxide were performed on preparative scale, affording (R)-2-azido-1-(4-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-ethanol in 38% yield and 97% ee, and (S)-3-hydroxy-3-(4-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-propionitrile in 30% yield and 98% ee.

Halohydrin dehalogenases (HHDHs) are valuable biocatalysts for the synthesis of enantiopure benzyl glycidyl ether (BGE) and its derivatives, which are important synthetic intermediates for anti-cancer and anti-obesity drugs. However, all the reported HHDHs exhibit low enantioselectivity. In this study, we screened site-saturation mutagenesis libraries of AbHHDH at positions R89, A136, V137, P178, N179, F180, I181, Y186 and F187 for mutants with enhanced enantioselectivity toward BGE. The four improved variant R89V, R89Y, R89K and V137I were identified, and the double mutant R89Y/V137I showed 2.9-fold higher enantioselectivity than the wild type. The regions of HHDH containing the identified mutations were analyzed by homology modeling to explain the changes of enantioselectivity. Kinetic resolution of 20 to 100 mM BGE using whole cells of Escherichia coli expressing the mutant R89Y/V137I resulted in (R)-BGE yields of 42 to 32.5%, with ee >99%. This study improves our understanding of the enantioselectivity of HHDHs and contributes improved biocatalysts for the kinetic resolution of BGE., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this work., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A gene encoding a halohydrin dehalogenase from Pseudomonas pohangensis (PpHHDH) was identified, synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. Subsequently, we used protein engineering to enhance the enzyme's enantioselectivity. We created two enantiocomplementary HHDH mutants, N160L and Q159L, which exhibited higher S- and R-selectivity toward PGE, respectively. The exchange of Leu at 159 for Gln led to a 2.3-fold increase in enantioselectivity (E-value of 22.2) compared to the wild-type. In addition, the N160L mutant displayed an inverted enantioselectivity (from E R  = 9.8 to E S  = 21.6) toward PGE. The wild-type PpHHDH and its variants were purified and characterized. They all displayed maximum activity at pH 7.5. The optimum temperature of mutant Q159L and N160L was increased from 35 °C to 40 °C. The wild-type PpHHDH and N160L mutant had good pH stability at pH 5.0-7.5, and Q159L showed an even wider range of pH tolerance, from pH 4.5 to pH 8.0. The mutants N160L and Q159L showed slightly better thermostability than wild-type PpHHDH. For most tested substrates, the two variants showed higher enantioselectivity. These findings further confirmed the importance of amino acid residues at positions 159 and 160 for the enantioselectivity of PpHHDH., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this work., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Halohydrin dehalogenase from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 (HheC) is a key enzyme in preparing β-substituted alcohols and optically pure epoxides. However, the weak thermostability of HheC greatly limits its industrial application and needs to be improved. In this study, a combinatorial smart library was constructed and screened for enhancing the thermostability of HheC. Mutation sites Lys203 and Lys204 located at the protein surface were selected and simultaneously randomized with charged amino acids (Arg, Asp, Glu, Lys), resulting in a combinatorial smart library. After screening a total of only 48 clones, three positive variants CSL1 (Lys203Arg), CSL2 (Lys204Arg) and CSL3 (Lys203Arg/Lys204Arg) were obtained. Compared to the wild type HheC, variant CSL2 exhibited an increase in thermal stability with a nearly 6.9-fold improvement of half-life (τ 1/2, 55°C ) at 55 °C without compromising catalytic activity. In addition, the double mutant CSL3 displayed approximately 3.4-fold higher τ 1/2, 55°C value and 1.8-fold higher k cat value toward 1,3-dicholoro-2-propanol (1,3-DCP) than that of the wild-type HheC. Homology modeling analysis highlights that the newly gained hydrogen bonds and optimizing charge-charge interactions at the protein surface might contribute to the overall conformational stabilization, leading to improving the thermostability of HheC., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Halohydrin dehalogenases are remarkable enzymes which possess promiscuous catalytic activity and serve as potential biocatalysts for the synthesis of chiral halohydrins, epoxides and β-substituted alcohols. The enzyme HheC exhibits a highly R enantioselectivity in the processes of dehalogenation of vicinal halohydrins and ring-opening of epoxides, which attracts more attentions in organic synthesis. Recently dozens of novel potential halohydrin dehalogenases have been identified by gene mining, however, most of the characterized enzymes showed low stereoselectivity. In this study, a novel halohydrin dehalogenase of HheA10 from Tsukamurella sp. 1534 has been heterologously expressed, purified and characterized. Substrate spectrum and kinetic resolution studies indicated the HheA10 was a highly S enantioselective enzyme toward several halohydrins, which produced the corresponding epoxides with the ee (enantiomeric excess) and E values up to >99% and >200 respectively. Our results revealed the HheA10 was a promising biocatalyst for the synthesis of enantiopure aromatic halohydrins and epoxides via enzymatic kinetic resolution of racemic halohydrins. What's more important, the HheA10 as the first individual halohydrin dehalogenase with the highly S enantioselectivity provides a complementary enantioselectivity to the HheC., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The cyanide-mediated ring opening of epoxides catalyzed by halohydrin dehalogenases yields β-hydroxynitriles that are of high interest for synthetic chemistry. The best studied halohydrin dehalogenase to date is the enzyme from Agrobacterium radiobacter, but this enzyme (HheC) exhibits only low cyanolysis activities. Sequence comparison between a pair of related halohydrin dehalogenases from Corynebacterium and Mycobacterium suggested that substitution of a threonine that interacts with the active site might be responsible for the higher cyanolytic activity of the former enzyme. Here we report that a variant of HheC in which this substitution (T134A) is adopted displays an up to 11-fold higher activity in cyanide-mediated epoxide ring-opening. The mutation causes removal of the hydrogen bond between residue 134 and the side chain O of the active site serine 132, which donates a hydrogen bond to the substrate oxygen. The mutation also increases dehalogenase rates with various substrates. Structural analysis revealed that the anion-binding site of the mutant enzyme remained unaltered, showing that the enhanced activity is due to altered interactions with the substrate oxygen rather than changes in the nucleophile binding site., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)