Site-selective enzymatic C-H amidation for synthesis of diverse lactams

Sunday, May 12, 2019 - 04:40 in Physics & Chemistry

A major challenge in carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond functionalization is to have the catalyst control precisely where a reaction takes place. In this study, we report engineered cytochrome P450 enzymes that perform unprecedented enantioselective C-H amidation reactions and control the site selectivity to divergently construct β-, -, and -lactams, completely overruling the inherent reactivities of the C-H bonds. The enzymes, expressed in Escherichia coli cells, accomplish this abiological carbon-nitrogen bond formation via reactive iron-bound carbonyl nitrenes generated from nature-inspired acyl-protected hydroxamate precursors. This transformation is exceptionally efficient (up to 1,020,000 total turnovers) and selective (up to 25:1 regioselectivity and 97%, please refer to compound 2v enantiomeric excess), and can be performed easily on preparative scale.

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