Asymmetric and Selective Biocatalysis

The synthesis of compounds or chiral building blocks with the desired configuration is one of the greatest challenges of chemistry, and is of the great interest in fields such as analytical chemistry and especially in fine and pharmaceutical chemistry. For this, different biocatalysts (i.e., cells, enzymes, catalytic antibodies, or ribozymes) have been used to catalyze different processes used, even on an industrial scale. Biocatalysts have a high activity under very mild conditions, such as ambient temperature, neutral pH, and atmospheric pressure. They are also able to catalyze highly selective and specific modifications in different substrates with high complexity, allowing the synthesis of enantiomerically pure compounds either by resolution processes or by asymmetric synthesis from prochiral substrates or regioselective modifications in complex molecules. This avoids side reactions as well as costly purification processes.
In addition to the pure biocatalysts that are traditionally used, in recent years, different hybrid catalysts have been developed that combine the good catalytic properties of traditional biocatalysts with the properties of organometallic catalysts. In this way, different mixed catalysts have been developed as artificial metalloenzymes combining enzymatic and metallic catalytic activities, expanding the applicability to different systems, such as cascade processes.