Preface
The use of natural catalysts – enzymes – for the transformation of nonnatural
man-made organic compounds is not at all new: they have been used for more
than 100 years, employed either as whole cells or isolated enzymes [1]. While the
object of the early research was the elucidation of biochemical pathways and
enzyme mechanisms, it was the steep rise of asymmetric synthesis during the
1980s that the enormous potential of enzymes for the synthesis of nonnatural
organic compounds was recognized. What started as an academic curiosity in the
late 1970s became a hot topic in synthetic organic chemistry in the 1990s. Driven
by breathtaking developments in molecular biosciences, the search for novel
enzymes, their production, and adaptation to industrial processes are continuously
simplified, which is demonstrated by the wavelike appearance of novel biocatalytic
principles. As a result of this extensive research, there have been an estimated
18,000 papers published on the subject to date. To collate these data as a kind of
“super-review” would clearly be an impossible task, and, furthermore, such a
hypothetical book would be unpalatable for the non-expert [2–5].
This textbook is written from an organic chemist’s viewpoint to provide a condensed introduction into biocatalysis and to persuade synthetic chemists to think
outside the box and to consider biocatalytic methods as an alternative tool for
stereoselective synthesis. By this means, the wide repertoire of synthetic methods
has been significantly widened and complemented, which is illustrated by the fact that
the proportion of papers on asymmetric synthesis employing biocatalytic methods has
constantly risen from zero in 1970 to about 8% at present. Certainly, biochemical
methods are not superior in a general sense – they are no panacea – but they provide
powerful tools to complement “chemical” methodology for a broad range of highly
selective organic transformations. Synthetic chemists capable of using this potential
have a clear advantage over those limited to nonbiological methods to tackle the new
generation of synthetic problems at the interface between chemistry and biology,
particularly in view of the necessity to use renewable feedstocks.
In this book, reliable biotransformations, which already had significant impact
on organic chemistry, are put to the fore, including industrial-scale showcases.
v
The use of natural catalysts – enzymes – for the transformation of nonnatural
man-made organic compounds is not at all new: they have been used for more
than 100 years, employed either as whole cells or isolated enzymes [1]. While the
object of the early research was the elucidation of biochemical pathways and
enzyme mechanisms, it was the steep rise of asymmetric synthesis during the
1980s that the enormous potential of enzymes for the synthesis of nonnatural
organic compounds was recognized. What started as an academic curiosity in the
late 1970s became a hot topic in synthetic organic chemistry in the 1990s. Driven
by breathtaking developments in molecular biosciences, the search for novel
enzymes, their production, and adaptation to industrial processes are continuously
simplified, which is demonstrated by the wavelike appearance of novel biocatalytic
principles. As a result of this extensive research, there have been an estimated
18,000 papers published on the subject to date. To collate these data as a kind of
“super-review” would clearly be an impossible task, and, furthermore, such a
hypothetical book would be unpalatable for the non-expert [2–5].
This textbook is written from an organic chemist’s viewpoint to provide a condensed introduction into biocatalysis and to persuade synthetic chemists to think
outside the box and to consider biocatalytic methods as an alternative tool for
stereoselective synthesis. By this means, the wide repertoire of synthetic methods
has been significantly widened and complemented, which is illustrated by the fact that
the proportion of papers on asymmetric synthesis employing biocatalytic methods has
constantly risen from zero in 1970 to about 8% at present. Certainly, biochemical
methods are not superior in a general sense – they are no panacea – but they provide
powerful tools to complement “chemical” methodology for a broad range of highly
selective organic transformations. Synthetic chemists capable of using this potential
have a clear advantage over those limited to nonbiological methods to tackle the new
generation of synthetic problems at the interface between chemistry and biology,
particularly in view of the necessity to use renewable feedstocks.
In this book, reliable biotransformations, which already had significant impact
on organic chemistry, are put to the fore, including industrial-scale showcases.
v