Conversion of alcohols to enantiopure amines through dual-enzyme hydrogen-borrowing cascades

Abstract

A clean and green approach to amines Enzymes evolved to operate in water and to modify their substrates using comparatively nontoxic reagents. Thus, a major advantage of applying enzymes to synthetic chemistry is their compatibility with environmentally benign conditions. Mutti et al. report that two enzymes—alcohol and amine dehydrogenases—can operate in tandem to convert alcohols to amines. The reaction proceeds with ammonium as the only input and water as the only byproduct. The mechanism relies on consecutive oxidation and reduction steps, with hydrogen shuttled by a nicotinamide coenzyme. Science , this issue p. 1525