Enantioselective biocatalytic desymmetrization for synthesis of enantiopure cis-3,4-disubstituted pyrrolidines

A versatile biocatalytic desymmetric method for efficiently accessing enantiopure cis-3,4-disubstituted pyrrolidines was developed. Catalyzed by amidase-containing E. coli whole cells, a series of meso pyrrolidine-2,5-dicarboxamides were hydrolyzed to obtain 4-carbamoylpyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives in 47%-95% yields and 62% similar to >99.5% ee values under mild condition. The catalytic efficiency and enantioselectivity are related to the substituents in the phenyl ring. The enzyme-substrate binding mode is established and the high enantioselectivity of amidase is revealed by MD simulations. The improvement of biocatalytic efficiency has been preliminarily explored through protein engineering.