Biocatalysis in Organosulfur Chemistry

Abstract

Enzymes, which are very efficient catalysts developed by nature to control chemical transformations in vivo, are also capable of adopting non-natural substrates, among them heteroorganic derivatives, and are also capable of working in non-aqueous media. Being intrinsically chiral, enzymes recognize any type of chirality of the substrates. This feature has been utilized for the stereoselective transformations of a variety of organosulfur compounds, resulting in the preparation of chiral non-racemic sulfur products.

Keywords:

• Asymmetric synthesis
• chiral organosulfur compounds
• desymmetrization
• enzymes
• kinetic resolution
• stereoselectivity

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my great thanks to all the persons who contributed to the work presented in this overview, particularly to Professor Marian Mikołajczyk, the initiator of the investigations on enzymatic heteroatom chemistry; Professor Józef Drabowicz, Doctor Małgorzata Kwiatkowska, Doctor Michał Rachwalski, Doctor Remigiusz Żurawiński, Doctor Jerzy Łuczak, and Lidia Madalińska, MSc., all from the CMMS PAS in Łódź, and Professor Stanisław Leśniak from the University of Łódź. Sincere thanks also to Professor Binne Zwanenburg and Professor Floris P. J. T. Rutjes from the Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, for fruitful cooperation, help, and longstanding friendly contacts. Many thanks to the organizers of ISOCS-24, particularly Professor Alessandro Degl’Innocenti and Professor Antonella Capperucci, for inviting me to present the lecture, which is the basis of this overview.