Engineering of Dual-Function <i>Vitreoscilla</i> Hemoglobin: A One-Pot Strategy for the Synthesis of Unnatural α-Amino Acids
Fengxi Li, Yaning Xu, Yaning Xu, Hanqing Xie, Junhao Wu, Chunyu Wang, Zhengqiang Li, Zhi Wang, Lei Wang
Abstract
Despite a well-developed and growing body of work on the directed evolution of hemoproteins, the potential of hemoproteins to catalyze non-natural reactions remains underexplored. This paper reports a new biocatalytic strategy for the one-pot synthesis of unnatural α-amino acids. Engineered variants of dual-function Vitreoscilla hemoglobin were found to efficiently catalyze N–H insertion and C–H sp 3 alkylation, providing moderate to excellent yields (57%–95%) of unnatural α-amino acid derivatives and turnover numbers (1425–2375).
Topics & Concepts
ChemistryAmino acidHemeproteinHemoglobinDual functionAlkylationFunction (biology)StereochemistryCombinatorial chemistryOrganic chemistryHemeBiochemistryCatalysisEnzymeEngineeringEngineering drawingContouringBiologyEvolutionary biologyPorphyrin and Phthalocyanine ChemistryCyclopropane Reaction MechanismsEnzyme Catalysis and Immobilization