Chiral Pyridoxal-Catalyzed Asymmetric Biomimetic Transamination of α-Keto Acids
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Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Limin Shi1, Chuangan Tao1, Qin Yang1
1The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University , Shanghai 200234, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A series of chiral pyridoxals 8 and 9 have been developed from commercially available pyridoxine and (S)-α,α-diarylprolinols. The pyridoxals exhibited good catalytic activity in an asymmetric transamination of α-keto acids with 2,2-diphenylglycine (7f) as the amine source to give various α-amino acids in 29-85% yields with 53-80% ee's. The current asymmetric transamination has successfully mimicked a complete biological transamination process characterized by two half-transaminations, a small chiral pyridoxal molecule acting as the catalyst, and enantioselective control.
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