Economic Considerations for Selecting an Amine Donor in Biocatalytic Transamination

The industrial implementation of biocatalysis for production of pharma and fine chemicals has grown substantially over recent years. An upcoming application is that of chiral synthesis of optically pure amines, a technology known for many years but that is now seeing a renewed and wider interest in industry. The technology has been demonstrated in a few selected cases, but widespread implementation and for a broader range of target molecules requires a deeper understanding of the underlying thermodynamic as well as economic constraints for the different choices that can be made in designing the process, in particular the choice of amine donor. This paper discusses these constraints and demonstrates, through simple thermodynamic and economic models, the process targets that need to be set and achieved for a process dependent on allowed process costs and quality targets.