| Contents | Introduction | Hydrolases | Oxidoreductases |
| Carbon Bond Forming Reactions | Biotransformations | References |
Over the past few years the use of enzymes as catalysts for the
preparation of novel organic molecules has received a steadily
increasing amount of attention. Thus, until fairly recently the
employment of enzymes and/or whole cell systems in organic chemistry
was localised in a few pioneering laboratories--now many
non-specialists are discovering the advantages of utilising these
natural catalysts.
There are three easily recognised advantages that may be gained from
utilising enzymes in organic synthesis:
- The proteins are able to promote reactions under very mild
conditions of temperature, pH, and pressure.
- Enzymes are chiral catalysts and are often able to produce
optically active molecules that can be used as building blocks
(synthons) for the preparation of homochiral compounds.
- Biocatalysts can perform transformations that are difficult to
emulate using more traditional organic chemistry.
These three facets of biotransformations will form recurring themes in
this review. Selected experiments from the Exeter laboratories will be
used as examples: other texts are available that have a more
comprehensive coverage of the literature (Jones et al. 1976; Davies et al. 1989 & 1990
and Turner 1994).
Two of the most popular areas of biotransformations that have a very
great relevance to organic synthesis involve the use of
hydrolase enzymes on the one hand and
oxidoreductase enzymes on the other. These two areas will be
discussed in turn. The third part of this review describes some
carbon-carbon bond forming reactions that are
catalysed by enzymes and the final section will indicate future
directions of the work in the area of biotransformations.
| Contents | Introduction | Hydrolases | Oxidoreductases |
| Carbon Bond Forming Reactions | Biotransformations | References |