JP2008182984A - Method for producing (r)-2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing (R)-2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester with high enantiomeric purity by asymmetric reduction of the corresponding ketone. <P>SOLUTION: The method for the enantiomer-specific production of a compound of formula (II) comprises introduction of a carbonyl reductase gene YOL151w, derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to prepare an E. coli transformed to express the gene or the extract of the transformed E. coli, and mixing of the E. coli with a compound of the formula (I) to effect the asymmetric reduction of the compound, in an aqueous medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester using transformed Escherichia coli obtained by genetic recombination.

Formula (II)

(R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester represented by the formula (III)

It is a chiral synthetic intermediate which can be used for the production of the platelet aggregation inhibitor clopidogrel represented by (see Patent Document 1).

  On the other hand, Formula (IV)

The enantiomers (enantiomers) of the carboxylic acid represented by are already commercially available in the (R) -form and (S) -form. These optically active carboxylic acids can be prepared from a racemate by an optical resolution method using an optically active amine such as ephedrine or α-methylbenzylamine as an optical resolution agent. However, the target enantiomer can be obtained only in a yield of 50% at the highest by only the optical resolution of the racemate. In order to increase the yield further, the other enantiomer can be racemized or sterically inverted. Further conversion to the desired enantiomer was necessary through treatment. Therefore, development of a production method capable of obtaining only a desired enantiomer is urgently required instead of such a complicated and inefficient method. On the other hand, a method for microbial conversion of a racemic carboxylic acid represented by formula (IV) into one enantiomer has been reported (see Patent Document 2). A technique for asymmetric reduction of a carboxylic acid represented by the formula (IV) from a corresponding ketone has also been reported (see Patent Document 3 and Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  Considering that it is economically advantageous to introduce an asymmetric point at a stage close to the final product clopidogrel, and considering the simplicity of the raw material synthesis, a formula (α-ketoester corresponding to the compound of formula (II) ( I)

It is more advantageous to asymmetrically reduce this compound. The synthesis of the optically active alcohol represented by the formula (II) by the asymmetric reduction of the ketone represented by the formula (I) has been reported in Patent Document 4, in which an asymmetric hydrogen using an optically active Ru complex is reported. An enantiomeric purity of 50% ee (ie, the value obtained by dividing the difference between the larger enantiomer amount and the smaller enantiomer amount by the total amount) has been achieved.

  On the other hand, the inventors have already incorporated a carbonyl reductase gene derived from baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and a Bacillus megaterium-derived glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) gene identified as YOL151w (or Gre2) into the plasmid. Using recombinant E. coli that highly expresses these genes transformed with

When the α-ketoester represented by formula (VI) is reduced,

It is reported that the (R) -form alcohol represented by the formula (1) is given at an enantiomeric purity of 92% ee (see Non-Patent Documents 3 and 4). However, this enantiomeric purity is far from the extremely high demand level required for pharmaceutical products (beyond 99% ee). In addition, as described later, the asymmetric reduction of the compound of the formula (V) resulted in an alcohol having the same configuration of the hydroxyl group as that of the formula (VI) with respect to the positional relationship between the carbonyl group and the ester group. In most cases, the opposite type of enantiomer is known (see Non-Patent Document 5, Table 1).

  Further, the formula (VII)

Is known to be obtained with an enantiomeric purity of 99% ee or higher by the same method as described above (see Non-Patent Document 4), but the reaction by the carbonyl reductase is an enzyme. Since the compound exhibits irregular behavior peculiar to the reaction (see Non-Patent Document 5) and the compound of the formula (II) is more susceptible to racemization than the compound of the formula (VII), II) Since the halogen bonded to the benzene ring of the compound is chlorine, and the —COOCH ₃ group instead of the methyl group is bonded to the carbon bonded to the hydroxyl group, the steric hindrance and electronegativity of these substituents. In view of the above, the same method was not a candidate for a method for obtaining the compound of formula (II) with high enantiomeric purity.
WO 99/18110 JP-A-6-165695 EP1316613 WO 94/01390 Kazuya Mitsuhashi, Hiroaki Yamamoto, Katsuya Miki, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Development of a process for producing (R) -2-chloromandelic acid by asymmetric reduction method-I, 2006 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Agricultural Chemistry 83 page, lecture number 2B18p05 Norihiro Kimoto, Hiroaki Yamamoto, Kazuya Mitsuhashi, Yoshinori Kobayashi, Development of Production Method of (R) -2-Chloromandelic Acid by Asymmetric Reduction Method II, 2006 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Agricultural Chemistry, 83 pages, No. 2B18p06 T. Ema, H. Yagasaki, N. Okita, K. Nishikawa, T. Korenaga, T. Sakai, Asymmetric reduction of a variety of ketones with a recombinant carbonyl reductase: identification of the gene encoding a versatile biocatalyst.Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 16 (6), 1075≡1078 (2005). T. Ema, H. Yagasaki, N. Okita, M. Takeda, T. Sakai, Asymmetric reduction of ketones using recombinant E. coli cells that produce a versatile carbonyl reductase with high enantioselectivity and broad substrate specificity.Tetrahedron, 62 (26) , 6143≡6149 (2006). T. Ema, H. Moriya, T. Kofukuda, T. Ishida, K. Maehara, M. Utaka, T. Sakai, High enantioselectivity and broad substrate specificity of a carbonyl reductase: toward a versatile biocatalyst. J. Org. Chem. , 66 (25), 8682≡8684 (2001).

  The object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester with high enantiomeric purity by asymmetric reduction of the corresponding ketone.

  As a result of repeated studies to solve such problems, the present inventors have determined that a baker's yeast-derived carbonyl reductase (SCR) gene identified as YOL151w (or Gre2) and a Bacillus megaterium-derived glucose dehydrogenation are identified. Using recombinant E. coli transformed to express the enzyme by introducing the enzyme (GDH) gene, the formula (I)

It was found that the compound represented by the formula (II) can be obtained in a high yield with an extremely high enantiomeric purity exceeding 99% ee by subjecting the compound represented by formula (II) to an asymmetric reduction reaction. It has been described in the above prior art (see Non-Patent Documents 3 and 4) that the compound of formula (II) can be obtained in such a very high enantiomeric purity by the reduction of the compound of formula (I) using the enzyme. As described in the following (A) to (C), the results were completely unexpected. Ie:

  (A) The stereocenter of the compound represented by the formula (II) is activated by three electron-withdrawing groups such as a hydroxyl group, a methyl ester group, and an orthochlorophenyl group, and thus is particularly susceptible to racemization in water. thing. Furthermore, racemization may be promoted by various biomolecules in E. coli. Actually, when the reaction extract mixture obtained by asymmetric reduction of the compound represented by the formula (I) using the genetically modified E. coli described in the present invention is left at room temperature for 3 days, it is represented by the formula (II). It has been confirmed that the enantiomeric purity of the compound to be reduced to 97% ee (data not shown).

  (B) Already in Non-Patent Document 4, the formula (VII)

It is reported that an orthofluoro compound represented by the formula (1) can be obtained with an enantiomeric purity of 99% ee or higher. However, the halogen in the compound of the formula (VII) is fluorine, and even the same halogen differs greatly from the physicochemical properties of the chlorine atom in the compound of the formula (I). The nature is also greatly affected. The van der Waals radii of fluorine and chlorine atoms are 1.35 and 1.80 mm, respectively. Therefore, the van der Waals radius of fluorine atoms is close to that of hydrogen atoms (1.2 （), and the degree of steric hindrance is not so large, but chlorine atoms are quite bulky. Furthermore, the electronegativity of a fluorine atom and a chlorine atom is 4.0 and 3.0, respectively. That is, the electronegativity of a chlorine atom is smaller than that of an oxygen atom (3.5), and the electron withdrawing degree of a chlorine atom is much smaller than that of a fluorine atom. Therefore, the ortho-chlorine atom of the compound represented by formula (I) has little effect of electronically activating the carbonyl group, but rather the reaction by the reductase should be inhibited due to steric hindrance of the chlorine atom. . Furthermore, steric hindrance by chlorine atoms can also reduce enantioselectivity.

  (C) Non-Patent Document 4 exemplifies asymmetric reduction of 20 types of ketones. Non-Patent Document 5 shows an example of asymmetric reduction of 20 types of ketones using the present carbonyl reductase purified from baker's yeast, and the three-dimensional structure when the purified enzyme gives optically active alcohol. Chemical trends have been reported. As shown in Non-Patent Document 5, the activity of the reductase is based on many experimental results when the substituent adjacent to the carbonyl group is hydrogen-bonding and when it has steric bulk (hydrophobicity). It is hydrogen bond substituents such as ester groups that mainly bind to the central binding pocket, and the steric positional relationship between the carbonyl group of the substituent and the carbonyl group undergoing reduction is enantioselective. It is considered to be a factor that almost determines That is, in Non-Patent Document 5, 15 of 16 ketones having a carbonyl group are reduced according to this rule. Only the compound of formula (V) did not follow this rule and was reduced to the opposite enantiomer (Table 1), which was exceptional.

Thus, in light of the positional relationship of the ester group with respect to the carbonyl group and the presence of a chlorine atom that is large and bulky in electronegativity, the compound of formula (II) has an enantiomeric purity greater than 99% ee Giving a body was something that could not have been expected.
[In addition, the present inventors are compounds (VIII) which are related compounds by said method,

Even if the compound of formula (IX) is treated

It has also been confirmed that this compound can be obtained only with an enantiomeric purity of 96% ee (unpublished)].

  Furthermore, in addition to the above discovery, the present inventors have found that the present invention is not slightly different from the conventional reaction temperature (30 ° C.) in the asymmetric reduction reaction of ketones using transformed cells described in Patent Documents 3 and 4. It has been found that by controlling the reaction temperature around 20 ° C., the production amount of the compound represented by the formula (II) per unit volume of the reaction mixture is remarkably improved, and the productivity is dramatically increased. The present invention has been completed based on these findings.

That is, the present invention provides the following.
1. An Escherichia coli transformed to express the gene by introducing a carbonyl reductase gene YOL151w (also known as Gre2) derived from baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) or an extract of the transformed Escherichia coli is prepared with the formula ( I)

By subjecting the compound of formula (I) to asymmetric reduction in an aqueous medium by mixing with a compound of formula (II)

An enantiospecific production method of the compound of

  2. The production method according to 1 above, wherein the transformed Escherichia coli is transformed by introducing a glucose dehydrogenase gene derived from Bacillus megaterium in addition to the carbonyl reductase gene. .

  3. The production method of 1 or 2 above, wherein the asymmetric reduction is performed at a temperature of 10 to 30 ° C.

  The present invention makes it possible to obtain (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester, a chiral synthetic intermediate of the platelet aggregation inhibitor clopidogrel, in a high yield with an enantiomeric purity of 99% ee or higher.

  The carbonyl reductase used in the present invention is preferably a product of a known gene of baker's yeast specified as YOL151w (also known as Gre2), and is an enzyme that requires NADPH as a coenzyme, but has a substantial effect on the activity. As long as no mutation is given, a mutation may be introduced partially. Transformation of E. coli with this carbonyl reductase gene (YOL151w) may be carried out by introducing an expression plasmid incorporating the gene into E. coli.

  In order to use the compound of formula (I) as a substrate for the carbonyl reductase produced by transformed E. coli, the substrate is added as it is to the culture solution containing the E. coli, and the cells are separated from the culture solution by centrifugation or the like. Then, the substrate is added as it is, the microbial cells separated from the culture solution are washed and then resuspended in a buffer solution or water, and the microbial cells are subjected to appropriate physical means such as ultrasonic waves. Examples include, but are not limited to, a method using an extract obtained by crushing and removing cell walls and the like by centrifugation.

  The asymmetric reduction of the present invention is performed in an aqueous medium. Here, the “aqueous medium” may be the medium used for the culture when the living transformed Escherichia coli is used as it is, and the Escherichia coli survives until the end of the reaction. As long as the activity of the enzyme used in the invention can be maintained, an appropriate buffer solution, water or the like may be used. When the E. coli extract is used in an asymmetric reduction reaction, the aqueous medium may be the medium itself used for the culture (for example, an extract obtained by disrupting the E. coli in the culture). In the case where the solution is used as it is, and as long as the activity of the enzyme used in the present invention is not adversely affected, an appropriate buffer solution, water or the like can be used.

In order for the carbonyl reductase to perform the desired reduction reaction, the coenzyme NADPH is supplied into the reaction system (depending on which side the carbonyl reductase is present, in the transformed E. coli or in an aqueous medium). It is necessary to keep it. One preferred method for supplying NADPH is to include in the reaction system an enzyme that regenerates the consumed coenzyme NADPH. A preferred enzyme for regenerating the coenzyme NADPH from NADP ⁺ (oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) includes glucose dehydrogenase, but is not limited to this as long as it enables regeneration of the coenzyme NADPH. Other enzymes capable of converting NADP ⁺ to NADPH may be used. When glucose dehydrogenase is used, glucose is added to the reaction system as an electron source. In order to add an enzyme for regenerating the coenzyme NADPH to the reaction system, an expression plasmid incorporating the gene of the enzyme may be introduced into Escherichia coli into which the carbonyl reductase (YOL151w) gene has been introduced.

  E. coli is preferred as a host cell that highly expresses both the carbonyl reductase and glucose dehydrogenase genes, but other hosts may be used as long as both genes are efficiently expressed, and are not limited to E. coli. E. coli may express genes and is not limited to a specific strain. The cells into which these genes have been introduced may be cultured under suitable conditions that allow growth, but at this time, gene expression may be promoted with an appropriate inducer. The carbonyl reductase gene and the glucose dehydrogenase gene may be on the same plasmid or on separate plasmids, but are preferably on separate plasmids. In addition, the host may be one that retains these expressed enzymes only inside the cells, but may be one that secretes these enzymes outside the cells.

  According to the method of the present invention, the substrate represented by the formula (I) is supplied to those enzymes produced by the transformed E. coli, so that the target (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester is a very high mirror image. Obtained with body purity.

  The reaction is preferably carried out under relatively mild conditions. That is, the reaction temperature is preferably about 10 to 30 ° C, more preferably 15 to 25 ° C, and particularly preferably 17 to 23 ° C. The pH of the reaction solution is preferably about 4 to 8, more preferably 5 to 8, particularly preferably 6 to 8, and 6.5 to 7.5, for example 7.0. Is particularly preferable. The time for one reaction is about 1 to 30 hours, although it varies depending on the packing concentration of the substrate, the reaction temperature, and the like.

  The substrate represented by the formula (I) is preferably added to the above-described transformed Escherichia coli or an extract containing an enzyme obtained by disrupting the cell wall or cell membrane so as to have a concentration of about 2 to 30%. . The method for adding the substrate may be either batch or divided addition.

  The method for isolating the product represented by the formula (II) is not particularly limited, and a general separation and purification method can be employed. For example, the target product can be obtained by using the reaction solution as it is, or removing cells by centrifugation or filtration, followed by extraction with an organic solvent such as ethyl acetate, and a separation method such as column chromatography or distillation.

  The production method using the transformed Escherichia coli of the present invention or an enzyme extracted therefrom is a reaction in water excellent in safety, and only the target enantiomer can be asymmetrically synthesized substantially exclusively. It is very advantageous in terms of safety, economy and environment.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although this invention is demonstrated further more concretely with reference to an Example, this invention is not intended to be limited to these Examples.

[Gene expression plasmid and host E. coli]
As expression plasmids, pESCR containing a carbonyl reductase gene and pABGD containing a glucose dehydrogenase gene were used (the construction methods of these plasmids have been reported in Non-Patent Document 4). The Escherichia coli host used was BL21 (DE3), and the one containing both expression plasmids was used for the reduction reaction. The method for constructing pESCR and pABGD and the method for preparing E. coli containing these are as follows. The base sequence of DNA encoding carbonyl reductase is SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, its amino acid sequence is SEQ ID NO: 2, and the base sequence of DNA encoding glucose dehydrogenase is SEQ ID NO: 3 in the sequence listing, its amino acid. The sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 4, respectively.

[Construction of pESCR]
Two internal peptides of the purified SCR were sequenced. That is, Ala Ala Trp Glu Phe Leu Glu Glu Asn Arg (shown in SEQ ID NO: 5) and Asp Leu Leu Ile Pro Ala Val Asp Gly Val Lys (shown in SEQ ID NO: 6), both of which are BLAST The analysis hits S. cerevisiae Gre2 (YOL151w).

This SCR gene (GRE2, YOL151w) was amplified by PCR from genomic DNA of baker's yeast obtained from Oriental yeast. The primers used for PCR are as follows. SC-CR-3F (5′-CGATTTTCAAACAAACAGATAGCAG-3 ′) (shown in SEQ ID NO: 7) and SC-CR-4R (5′-AAAATGCGCAGAGATGTACTAGATG-3 ′) (shown in SEQ ID NO: 8 in the sequence listing) These correspond to the 5′- or 3′-noncoding region of the portion encompassing the gene. The conditions for the 100 μL PCR mix are as follows: 0.5 μM each primer, 0.2 mM each dNTP, genomic DNA (400 ng), 5 U TaKaRa Ex Taq DNA polymerase, 1.5 mM MgCl ₂ , And 10 μL of PCR buffer. PCR was a DNA strand extension reaction of 30 cycles consisting of 98 ° C. for 10 seconds and 55 ° C. for 30 seconds, followed by 1 minute at 72 ° C. The amplified DNA fragment was directly cloned into pGEM-T (Promega Corp.), and Escherichia coli JM109 was transformed and cultured according to a conventional method, and pGSCR was extracted and purified.

This SCR gene was then subcloned into the expression vector pET-11a. The primers used for PCR are as follows. SC-CR-5F (5'-ATCACACGCCCTTA CATATG TCAG-3 ') (shown in SEQ ID NO: 9) and SC-CR-6R (5'-CG GGATCC TTAAAGTTTATATTCTGCCCTC-3') (sequence in the sequence list) (Shown in number 10) (NdeI site is nucleotides 15-20 in the sequence of SC-CR-5F, and BamHI site is nucleotides 3-8 in the sequence of SC-CR-6R). The conditions for a 100 μL PCR mix are as follows: 0.5 μM each primer, 0.2 mM each dNTP, pGSCR (100 pg), 5 U TaKaRa Ex Taq DNA polymerase, 1.5 mM MgCl ₂ , and 10 μL of PCR buffer. PCR was a DNA strand extension reaction of 30 cycles consisting of 98 ° C. for 10 seconds and 55 ° C. for 30 seconds, followed by 1 minute at 72 ° C. The amplified DNA fragment was digested with NdeI and BamHI and ligated to pET-11a that had been treated with the same restriction enzymes. Thus, competent cells were transformed by a conventional method to obtain Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) containing pESCR. FIG. 1 shows a gene map of pESCR.

[Construction of pABGD]
Bacillus megaterium NBRC (formerly IFO) 15308 genomic DNA was isolated according to the literature (J. Marmur, A procedure for the isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid from micro-organisms, J. Mol. Biol., 3, 208≡218 (1961)). Released. Glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) gene was used as a primer with BM-GD-1F (5′-ATGTATACAGATTTAAAAGATAAAGTAGTT-3 ′) (shown in SEQ ID NO: 11) and BM-GD-2R (5′-TTAGCCTCTTCCTGCTTGG-3 ′) ( Was amplified by PCR using SEQ ID NO: 12 in the Sequence Listing. The conditions for the 100 μL PCR mix are as follows: 0.5 μM each primer, 0.2 mM each dNTP, genomic DNA (80 ng), 5 U TaKaRa Ex Taq DNA polymerase, 1.5 mM MgCl ₂ , And 10 μL of PCR buffer. PCR was a DNA chain extension reaction of 30 cycles consisting of 98 ° C. for 10 seconds and 50 ° C. for 30 seconds, followed by 5 minutes at 72 ° C. The amplified DNA fragment was directly cloned into pGEM-T (Promega Corp.), and E. coli JM109 cells were transformed and cultured according to a conventional method, and pGBGD was extracted and purified.

This GDH gene was then subcloned into the expression vector pACYCDuet-1. The primers used for PCR are as follows. That is, BM-GD-10F (5′-CCATGGCCGCGGGCATA-3 ′) (shown in SEQ ID NO: 13 in the sequence listing) and BM-GD-11R (5′-CGC GGTACC GATTTTAGCCTCTTC-3 ′) (SEQ ID NO: 14 in the sequence listing) (In the sequence of BM-GD-11R, the KpnI site is nucleotides 4-9). PCR conditions for a 100 μL PCR mixture are as follows: 0.5 μM each primer, 0.2 mM each dNTP, pGBGD (3.7 ng), 2.5 U TaKaRa Ex Taq DNA polymerase, 1.5 mM MgCl ₂ and 10 μL of PCR buffer. PCR was a DNA chain extension reaction of 30 minutes consisting of 98 ° C. for 10 seconds and 48 ° C. for 30 seconds, followed by 5 minutes at 72 ° C. The amplified DNA fragment was digested with NdeI and KpnI and ligated to pACYCDuet-1 that had been treated with the same restriction enzymes. E. coli BL21 (DE3) containing pABGD was obtained by transformation of competent cells by conventional methods. FIG. 2 shows a gene map of pABGD.

[Preparation of Escherichia coli containing pESCR and pABGD]
Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) containing pABGD was transformed with pESCR, and LB plate medium containing ampicillin and chloramphenicol [tryptone 1.0%, yeast extract 0.5%, sodium chloride 1.0%, ampicillin 100 μg. / ML, chloramphenicol 34 μg / mL, agar 1.7%, pH 7)]. Colonies that had undergone the desired transformation and co-expressed SCR and GDH were confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis and the presence of SCR and GDH enzyme activities.

[Culture of transformed E. coli]
The obtained transformed cells were cultured and expanded as follows, and the cells were frozen and stored. That is, the E. coli was treated with LB medium (1.0% tryptone, 0.5% yeast extract, 1.0% sodium chloride, 100 μg / mL ampicillin, 34 μg / mL chloramphenicol) containing ampicillin and chloramphenicol. , PH 7) (3 mL) and grown at 37 ° C. for 15 hours with shaking at 230 rpm. Next, 300 ml of LB medium was placed in a 1 L Erlenmeyer flask, sterilized at 121 ° C. for 20 minutes, and then ampicillin (100 μg / ml) and chloramphenicol (34 μg / ml) were added. The culture solution (3 ml) of the above Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) retaining expression plasmids pESCR and pABGD was inoculated thereto, and cultured with shaking at 37 ° C. and 200 rpm. When the absorbance (600 nm) of the culture solution reached 0.6 to 0.8, the inducer isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) was added to 0.1 mM. Thereafter, the cells were cultured with shaking at 200 rpm at 28 ° C. for 18 hours. The cells were collected by centrifugation (7000 rpm, 4 ° C., 10 minutes), washed with 50 mL of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and collected again by centrifugation. The obtained E. coli pellet was stored at 20 ° C. until the asymmetric reduction reaction was performed.

  The transformed Escherichia coli [BL21 (DE3) / pESCR + pABGD] was deposited internationally at the Patent Organism Depositary, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology as of January 4, 2007 (Accession Number: FERM BP-10756). . The transformed Escherichia coli is facultative anaerobic and can be cultured by shaking culture at 37 ° C. in the above-mentioned ampicillin and chloramphenicol-containing LB medium, and has no photorequirement. Further, when cultured at 37 ° C. on an LB plate medium containing ampicillin and chloramphenicol, a light beige circular colony having a diameter of about 1 mm is formed (raised state: half-lens shape, peripheral edge: full edge, surface shape) : Smooth, transparency: opaque, consistency: butter-like).

[Asymmetric reduction using transformed E. coli-1 (30 ° C)]
Using the transformed E. coli, 2-chlorobenzoyl formate methyl ester was asymmetrically reduced at a reaction temperature of 30 ° C. That is, after adding 1.08 g (6.0 mmol) of glucose, 10 mg (12 μmol) of NADP ^{+ and} 2.0 g of the above transformed E. coli pellet, 10 mL of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), 2-chloro Benzoyl formate methyl ester (M. Ma, C. Li, L. Peng, F. Xie, X. Zhang, J. Wang, An efficient synthesis of aryl α-keto esters. Tetrahedron Lett., 46 (22), 3927≡ Synthesis according to 3929 (2005).) 600 mg (3.0 mmol) was added in one portion. The reaction mixture was stirred in a constant temperature bath at 30 ° C. In order to make the pH that decreases as the reaction progresses constant at pH 7.0, 2N NaOH was appropriately added. After 24 hours, 5.5 g of sodium chloride was added, extracted three times with 25 ml of ethyl acetate, and the organic layers were combined and dried over magnesium sulfate. After filtration, concentration with an evaporator, and purification by silica gel column chromatography (hexane: ethyl acetate = 10: 1), 455 mg of (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester was obtained as a colorless liquid. Conversion rate 92%. Isolation yield 76%, enantiomeric purity> 99% ee

[Asymmetric reduction using transformed E. coli-2 (20 ° C)]
Using the transformed E. coli, 2-chlorobenzoyl formate methyl ester was asymmetrically reduced at a reaction temperature of 20 ° C. That is, after adding 3.60 g (20.0 mmol) of glucose, 10 mg (12 μmol) of NADP ^{+ and} 2.0 g of the above transformed E. coli pellet, 10 mL of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), 2-chloro 1.98 g (10.0 mmol) of benzoyl formic acid methyl ester was added in one portion. The reaction mixture was stirred in a constant temperature bath at 20 ° C. In order to make the pH that decreases as the reaction progresses constant at pH 7.0, 2N NaOH was appropriately added. After 24 hours, 5.5 g of sodium chloride was added, extracted three times with 25 ml of ethyl acetate, and the organic layers were combined and dried over magnesium sulfate. After filtration and concentration with an evaporator, purification by silica gel column chromatography (hexane: ethyl acetate = 10: 1) gave 1.78 g (8.87 mmol) of (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester as colorless. Obtained as a liquid. Conversion rate: 99%. Isolation yield: 89%, enantiomeric purity:> 99% ee, specific rotation [α] ¹⁹ _D = −178.3 (c 1.3, CHCl ₃ )
¹ H NMR (CDCl ₃ , 600 MHz): 3.56 (d, J = 5.4 Hz, 1H), 3.78 (s, 3H), 5.57 (d, J = 5.4 Hz, 1H), 7.28-7.29 (m, 2H) , 7.39-7.40 (m, 2H)
¹³ C NMR (CDCl ₃ , 150 MHz): 53.2, 70.3, 127.2, 128.8, 129.8, 130.0, 133.5, 135.9, 173.7
IR (liquid film method) 3454, 1744, 1441, 1223 cm ^-1 .

[Asymmetric reduction reaction-3 using transformed Escherichia coli]
Since the asymmetric reduction at 20 ° C. showed higher reaction efficiency than that at 30 ° C., the asymmetric reduction was carried out in the same manner as above except that the temperature and the substrate concentration were changed.

  The results of asymmetric reduction reactions 1 to 3 using transformed E. coli are summarized in Table 1.

  As shown in Table 1, the desired enantiomer was obtained in substantially pure form with an enantiomeric purity exceeding 99% ee. In addition, a remarkable temperature effect that greatly contributes to productivity was found. That is, reduction at the same reaction temperature (30 ° C.) as before gave the product of formula (II) with a conversion rate of 92%, whereas for the same reaction at 20 ° C., the expected (ie generally temperature) On the contrary, it was found that the conversion rate dramatically improved. Therefore, even if the substrate concentration was increased to 1.0 M, the reaction proceeded smoothly and the conversion rate reached 99%, and the productivity of the compound of formula (II) at this time reached 178 g / L. That is, in a reaction system with a constant enzyme amount and a liquid amount, at a reaction temperature of 30 ° C. (0.27 mol of substrate per liter is reduced to 0.03 mol per liter during a fixed time (24 hours in these examples)). Much more of the substrate was reduced at 20 ° C. (ie, 0.99 mole per liter was reduced). Also, the reaction at 25 ° C. with a substrate concentration of 0.3 M has a very high conversion rate of over 99% (substantially all of the substrate is reduced) compared to the reaction of the substrate at the same concentration at 30 ° C. Productivity has also increased to 53 g / L. This means that the reaction over a period of time (24 hours) is faster from 30 ° C. to 25 ° C., and in this example at 25 ° C., it should have been able to reduce more substrate than added. Suggests. This clearly confirms that when the substrate temperature was raised to 1.0 M at a reaction temperature of 25 ° C., the total amount of reaction greatly increased and the productivity reached 170 g / L. In this case, the conversion rate was reduced to 90%, but this was only because the base mass exceeded the ability of the reaction system at 25 ° C. by about 10%. Further, even at a reaction at 15 ° C. with a substrate concentration of 1.0 M, the productivity is as high as 164 g / L. Even at this temperature, although not as much as at 20 ° C., the productivity is remarkably increased as compared with the case of 30 ° C. I understand that. As a whole, by carrying out the reaction of the present invention at a temperature of 30 ° C. or less, preferably around 20 ° C., not only extremely high enantiomeric purity but also a reduction reaction with extremely high productivity. It shows that it is possible.

[Asymmetric reduction reaction using enzyme in cell-free system]
To 2.0 g of the above E. coli pellet, 10 mL of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) was added and suspended. The operation of sonicating for 1 minute and then cooling with ice for 1 minute was performed 10 times. Centrifugation (20,000 rpm, 4 ° C., 30 minutes) gave a cell-free extract as the supernatant. All of this enzyme solution was transferred to a test tube, and glucose 1.08 g (6.0 mmol) and NADP ⁺ 10 mg (12 μmol) were added. The reaction was started by adding 0.612 g (3.0 mmol) of 2-chlorobenzoyl formic acid methyl ester in a constant temperature bath at 20 ° C. In order to make the pH that decreases as the reaction progresses constant at 7.0, 2N NaOH was appropriately added. After 24 hours, 5.5 g of sodium chloride was added, extracted three times with 25 ml of ethyl acetate, and dried over magnesium sulfate. After concentration by an evaporator, purification by silica gel column chromatography (hexane: ethyl acetate = 10: 1) yields 0.57 g (2.84 mmol) of (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester as a colorless liquid. It was. Conversion:> 99%, isolated yield: 93%, enantiomeric purity:> 99% ee.

  According to the present invention, (R) -2-chloromandelic acid methyl ester can be obtained in a high yield with an enantiomeric purity exceeding 99% ee that meets the high demand level required for pharmaceutical products.

pESCR gene map pABGD gene map

Claims (3)

E. coli transformed to express the Saccharomyces cerevisiae-derived carbonyl reductase gene YOL151w, or an extract of the transformed E. coli, and the formula (I)

By mixing the compound of formula (I) in an aqueous medium and subjecting the compound of formula (I) to asymmetric reduction in an aqueous medium.

An enantiospecific production method of the compound of   The production method according to claim 1, wherein the transformed Escherichia coli is transformed by introducing a Bacillus megaterium-derived glucose dehydrogenase gene in addition to the carbonyl reductase gene and co-expressing both these genes.   The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the asymmetric reduction is performed at a temperature of 10 to 30 ° C.