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Updated: Sep 4, 2025

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Biocatalytic Intramolecular C-H aminations via Engineered Heme Proteins: Full Reaction Pathways and Axial Ligand
Yang Wei1,2, Melissa Conklin1, Yong Zhang1
1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA.
Abstract:
Engineered heme protein biocatalysts provide an efficient and sustainable approach to develop amine-containing compounds through C-H amination. A quantum chemical study to reveal the complete heme catalyzed intramolecular C-H amination pathway and protein axial ligand effect was reported, using reactions of an experimentally used arylsulfonylazide with hemes containing L=none, SH- , MeO- , and MeOH to simulate no axial ligand, negatively charged Cys and Ser ligands, and a neutral ligand for comparison. Nitrene formation was found as the overall rate-determining step (RDS) and the catalyst with Ser ligand has the best reactivity, consistent with experimental reports. Both RDS and non-RDS (nitrene transfer) transition states follow the barrier trend of MeO-
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