Engineering an Epoxide Hydrolase for Chemoenzymatic Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Triazole Fungicide (S)- and (R)-Flutriafol

Flutriafol, a globally utilized triazole fungicide in agriculture, is typically applied as a racemic mixture, but its enantiomers differ in bioactivity and environmental impact. The synthesis of flutriafol enantiomers is critically dependent on chiral precursors: 2,2-bisaryl-substituted oxirane [(2-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-fluorophenyl)oxirane, 1a] and 1,2-diol [1-(2-fluorophenyl)-1-(4-fluorophenyl)ethane-1,2-diol, 1b]. Here, we engineered a Rhodotorula paludigensis epoxide hydrolase (RpEH), obtaining mutant Escherichia coli/Rpeh(H336W/L360F) with a 6.4-fold enhanced enantiomeric ratio (E) from 5.5 to 35.4. This enabled a gram-scale resolution of rac-1a by E. coli/Rpeh(H336W/L360F), producing (S)-1a (98.2% ee(s)) and (R)-1b (75.0% ee(p)) with 44.3 and 55.7% analytical yields, respectively. As follows, chiral (S)-flutriafol (98.2% ee) and (R)-flutriafol (75.0% ee) were easily synthesized by a one-step chemocatalytic process from (S)-1a and a two-step chemocatalytic process from (R)-1b, respectively. This chemoenzymatic approach offers a superior alternative for the asymmetric synthesis of flutriafol enantiomers. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations revealed insight into the enantioselectivity improvement of RpEH toward bulky 2,2-bisaryl-substituted oxirane 1a.