Discovery and utilization of biocatalysts for chiral synthesis: an overview of Chinese scientists' research and development.

The importance of chiral issues in active pharmaceutical ingredients has been widely recognized not only by pharmacologists, but also by chemists, chemical engineers and administrators. In fact, the worldwide sales of single-enantiomer drugs have exceeded US $150 billion. Among them the contribution rate of biocatalysis technology is ever increasing (up to 15-20%). This chapter will focus on the biocatalytic synthesis of chiral compounds useful for pharmaceutical industry. Diverse enzymes, such as oxidoreductases, epoxide hydrolases, nitrilases/nitrile hydratases and hydroxy nitrile lyases which were isolated from various sources including microorganisms and plants, and the methodology for utilizing these enzymes in enantioselective or asymmetric synthesis will be discussed briefly.