Geometric specificity of alcohol dehydrogenases and its potential for separation of trans and cis isomers of unsaturated aldehydes.

The geometric specificity of three different alcohol dehydrogenases (alcohol:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.1) (from yeast, from horse liver, and from Leuconostoc mesenteroides) in the reduction of trans- and cis-cinnamaldehydes has been investigated. All three enzymes display a remarkable trans specificity: they react with the trans isomer 7 to 647 times faster than with its cis counterpart. Experiments with the enzymatic reduction of 3-phenylpropionaldehyde, a saturated analog of cinnamaldehyde, have revealed that whereas trans-cinnamaldehyde possesses the "right" configuration for the active centers of the alcohol dehydrogenases, the cis isomer apparently does not fit the active centers well. All three alcohol dehydrogenases studied also exhibit a marked trans specificity in the reaction with alpha-methylcinnamaldehyde. The geometric specificity of alcohol dehydrogenases can be used for the production of otherwise hard to synthesize cis isomers of unsaturated aldehydes from their readily available trans counterparts: trans-cinnamaldehyde was irradiated with ultraviolet light (which converted it to a mixture of trans and cis isomers) then treated with NADH and yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (which selectively reduces only trans aldehyde into the alcohol), and finally the mixture of cis-cinnamaldehyde and trans-cinnamyl alcohol was separated easily by preparative column chromatography.