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Updated: Apr 26, 2026

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A tailor-made chimeric thiamine diphosphate dependent enzyme for the direct asymmetric synthesis of (S)-benzoins
Robert Westphal1, Constantin Vogel, Carlo Schmitz
1IBG-1: Biotechnology, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Strasse, 52425 Jülich (Germany).
Abstract:
Thiamine diphosphate dependent enzymes are well known for catalyzing the asymmetric synthesis of chiral α-hydroxy ketones from simple prochiral substrates. The steric and chemical properties of the enzyme active site define the product spectrum. Enzymes catalyzing the carboligation of aromatic aldehydes to (S)-benzoins have not so far been identified. We were able to close this gap by constructing a chimeric enzyme, which catalyzes the synthesis of various (S)-benzoins with excellent enantiomeric excess (>99%) and very good conversion.
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