Highly efficient preparation of active S-phenyl-L-cysteine with tryptophan synthase using a chemoenzymatic method

Abstract Background S-Phenyl-L-cysteine is regarded as having potential applicability as an antiretroviral/protease inhibitor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the present study, optically active S-phenyl-L-cysteine was prepared in a highly efficient manner from inexpensive bromobenzene usi...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lisheng Xu, Xingtao Zhang, Guizhen Gao, Sun Yue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-07-01
Series:BMC Biotechnology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12896-019-0538-2
Description
Summary:Abstract Background S-Phenyl-L-cysteine is regarded as having potential applicability as an antiretroviral/protease inhibitor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the present study, optically active S-phenyl-L-cysteine was prepared in a highly efficient manner from inexpensive bromobenzene using tryptophan synthase through a chemoenzymatic method. Results The chemoenzymatic method used a four-step reaction sequence. The process started with the reaction of magnesium and bromobenzene, followed by a Grignard reaction, and then hydrolysis and enzymatic synthesis using tryptophan synthase. Through this approach, S-phenyl-L-cysteine was chemoenzymatically synthesized using tryptophan synthase from thiophenol and L-serine as the starting material. Conclusions High-purity, optically active S-phenyl-L-cysteine was efficiently and inexpensively obtained in a total yield of 81.3% (> 99.9% purity).
ISSN:1472-6750