Regio- and Stereoselective Aliphatic-Aromatic Cross-Benzoin Reaction: Enzymatic Divergent Catalysis.

The catalytic asymmetric synthesis of chiral 2-hydroxy ketones by using different thiamine diphosphate dependent enzymes, namely benzaldehyde lyase from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PfBAL), a variant of benzoylformate decarboxylase from Pseudomonas putida (PpBFD-L461A), branched-chain 2-keto acid decarboxylase from Lactococcus lactis (LlKdcA) and a variant of pyruvate decarboxylase from Acetobacter pasteurianus (ApPDC-E469G), was studied. Starting with the same set of substrates, substituted benzaldehydes in combination with different aliphatic aldehydes, PfBAL and PpBFD-L461A selectively deliver the (R)- and (S)-2-hydroxy-propiophenone derivatives, respectively. The (R)- and (S)-phenylacetylcarbinol (1-hydroxy-1-phenylacetone) derivatives are accessible in a similar way using LlKdcA and ApPDC-E469G, respectively.

Experimental and theoretical analysis of asymmetric induction in heterogeneous catalysis: diastereoselective hydrogenation of chiral alpha-hydroxyketones over Pt catalyst.

Assessing the origin of asymmetric induction in heterogeneously catalyzed hydrogenation is a challenging task. In this work, hydrogenation of a chiral compound, (R)-1-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-propanone [(R)-PAC], in toluene over cinchonidine modified and unmodified Pt/Al(2)O(3) was studied. To reveal the detailed reaction mechanism and the origin of stereoselectivity in the Pt-catalyzed hydrogenation of the CO double bond, the structures and energies of several adsorption modes of (R)-PAC as well as whole reaction paths for hydrogenation were investigated on Pt(111) by density functional theory (DFT).