Enantioselective synthesis of cyanohydrins catalysed by hydroxynitrile lyases – a review

The first enantioselective synthesis was the selective addition of cyanide to benzaldehyde catalysed by a hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL). Since then these enzymes have developed into a reliable tool in organic synthesis. HNLs to prepare either the (R)- or the (S)-enantiomer of the desired cyanohydrin are available and a wide variety of reaction...

MsAcT in siliceous monolithic microreactors enables quantitative ester synthesis in water

Acyltransferase from Mycobacterium smegmatis (MsAcT) immobilised in continuous-flow microchannel (30-50 ?m dia.) reactors with hierarchical pore structure (4 cm3/g total pore volume) enabled quantitative, full and rapid transesterification of neopentylglycol with ethyl acetate in a biphasic 50/50 % system in less than one minute. MsAcT was...

The selective addition of water

Water is omnipresent and essential. Yet at the same time it is a rather unreactive molecule. The direct addition of water to C[double bond, length as m-dash]C double bonds is therefore a challenge not answered convincingly. In this perspective we critically evaluate the selectivity and the applicability of the different catalytic approaches for...

B-TUD-1: A versatile mesoporous catalyst

Novel amorphous mesoporous borosilicate, B-TUD-1, was prepared to test its performance for different sustainable reactions. The structure of the material, the effective incorporation of boron into the framework as well as the nature of incorporated boron were verified by N2-sorption, XRD, ICP-OES, TEM, NH3-desorption, MAS NMR and FTIR. The...

Immobilisation of hydroxynitrile lyases

Hydroxynitrile lyases are a versatile group of enzymes that are applied both in the laboratory and on an industrial scale. What makes them particularly interesting is that to date five structurally unrelated categories of hydroxynitrile lyases have been discovered. Given their great importance they have often been immobilised utilising many...