Enantioselective Michael Addition of Water

The enantioselective Michael addition using water as both nucleophile and solvent has to date proved beyond the ability of synthetic chemists. Herein, the direct, enantioselective Michael addition of water in water to prepare important ?-hydroxy carbonyl compounds using whole cells of Rhodococcus strains is described. Good yields and excellent...

Michael hydratase alcohol dehydrogenase or just alcohol dehydrogenase?

The Michael hydratase – alcohol dehydrogenase (MhyADH) from Alicycliphilus denitrificans was previously identified as a bi-functional enzyme performing a hydration of ?,?-unsaturated ketones and subsequent oxidation of the formed alcohols. The investigations of the bi-functionality were based on a spectrophotometric assay and an activity...

On the Michael Addition of Water to ?,?-Unsaturated Ketones Using Amino Acids

The use of water as a nucleophile for Michael additions is still a challenge in organic chemistry. In this report we describe the use of amino acids as catalysts for the Michael addition of water to ?,?-unsaturated ketones. All 20 proteinogenic amino acids were screened and L-lysine was identified as the best candidate. To obtain a better...

Draft genome sequence of Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain ATCC 17895

Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC 17895 possesses an array of mono- and dioxygenases, as well as hydratases, which makes it an interesting organism for biocatalysis. R. rhodochrous is a Gram-positive aerobic bacterium with a rod-like morphology. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence and annotation....