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Nitrogen heterocycles are structural motifs found in many bioactive natural products and of utmost importance in pharmaceutical drug development. In this work, a stereoselective synthesis of functionalized N‐heterocycles was accomplished in two steps, comprising the biocatalytic aldol addition of ethanal and simple aliphatic ketones such as propanone, butanone, 3‐pentanone, cyclobutanone, and cyclopentanone to N‐Cbz‐protected aminoaldehydes using engineered variants of d‐fructose‐6‐phosphate aldolase from Escherichia coli (FSA) or 2‐deoxy‐d‐ribose‐5‐phosphate aldolase from Thermotoga maritima (DERATma) as catalysts. FSA catalyzed most of the additions of ketones while DERATma was restricted to ethanal and propanone. Subsequent treatment with hydrogen in the presence of palladium over charcoal, yielded low‐level oxygenated N‐heterocyclic derivatives of piperidine, pyrrolidine and N‐bicyclic structures bearing fused cyclobutane and cyclopentane rings, with stereoselectivities of 96–98 ee and 97:3 dr in isolated yields ranging from 35 to 79%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pyruvate‐dependent aldolases exhibit a stringent selectivity for pyruvate, limiting application of their synthetic potential, which is a drawback shared with other existing aldolases. Structure‐guided rational protein engineering rendered a 2‐keto‐3‐deoxy‐ l‐rhamnonate aldolase variant, fused with a maltose‐binding protein (MBP‐YfaU W23V/L216A), capable of efficiently converting larger pyruvate analogues, for example, those with linear and branched aliphatic chains, in aldol addition reactions. Combination of these nucleophiles with N‐Cbz‐alaninal (Cbz=benzyloxycarbonyl) and N‐Cbz‐prolinal electrophiles gave access to chiral building blocks, for example, derivatives of (2S,3S,4R)‐4‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐2‐methylpentanoic acid (68 %, d.r. 90:10) and the enantiomer of dolaproine (33 %, d.r. 94:6) as well as a collection of unprecedented α‐amino acid derivatives of the proline and pyrrolizidine type. Conversions varied between 6–93 % and diastereomeric ratios from 50:50 to 95:5 depending on the nucleophilic and electrophilic components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of aromatic residues connected by a CC bond into the non-reducing end of carbohydrates is highly significant for the development of innovative structures with improved binding affinity and selectivity (e.g., Caril-sLex). In this work, an expedient asymmetric 'de novo' synthetic route to new aryl carbohydrate derivatives based on two sequential stereoselectively biocatalytic carboligation reactions is presented. First, the benzoin reaction of aromatic aldehydes to dimethoxyacetaldehyde is conducted, catalyzed by benzaldehyde lyase from Pseudomonas fluorescens biovar I. Then, the α-hydroxyketones formed are reduced by using NaBH4 yielding the anti diol. After acetal hydrolysis, the aldol addition of dihydroxyacetone, hydroxyacetone, or glycolaldehyde catalyzed by the stereocomplementary D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase and L-rhamnulose-1-phosphate aldolase is performed. Both aldolases accept unphosphorylated donor substrates, avoiding the need of handling the phosphate group that the dihydroxyacetone phosphate-dependent aldolases require. In this way, 6- C-aryl- L-sorbose, 6- C-aryl- L-fructose, 6- C-aryl- L-tagatose, and 5- C-aryl- L-xylose derivatives are prepared by using this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multistep chemoenzymatic synthesis for stereodiverse polyhydroxypipecolic acid analogues, homoiminocyclitols and polyhydroxylated piperidine and pyrrolidine derivatives combining glycine-dependent aldolases and both D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase (FSA) or dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP)-dependent aldolases is presented. The methodology allowed the preparation of known and innovative imine-derived molecules with a great structural diversity from simple achiral substrates. The strategy consisted of two key aldol addition steps: a first aldol addition of glycine to dimethoxyacetaldehyde catalyzed by L- and D-glycine aldolases and a second aldol addition of DHAP, dihydroxyacetone, hydroxyacetone or glycolaldehyde using FSA or DHAP-dependent aldolases as catalysts to a conveniently transformed aldol adduct from the first aldol addition. Catalytic reductive amination on the aldol adducts rendered the polyhydroxypipecolic acid analogues, (homo)iminocyclitols and polyhydroxylated pyrrolidine iminocyclitols. The reported strategy is thus designed to create up to five new stereogenic centers in three steps, four of them being controlled in two enzymatic reactions. Moreover, it allowed the installation of diverse functionalities in the molecules. This was possible by taking the full advantage of using aldolases in a multistep approach by virtue of their stereocomplementarity, stereoselectivity and broad substrate tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]