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Manfred T Reetz

Publications and source records attributed to Manfred T Reetz.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PipPhos and MorfPhos: privileged monodentate phosphoramidite ligands for rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation.

A library of 20 monodentate phosphoramidite ligands has been prepared and applied in rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation. This resulted in the identification of two ligands, PipPhos and MorfPhos, that afford excellent and in several cases unprecedented enantioselectivities in the hydrogenation of N-acyldehydroamino acid esters, dimethyl itaconate, acyclic N-acylenamides, and cyclic N-acylenamides. In addition, a method for the parallel enantioselectivity determination of eight acylated amines is presented.

Journal Article↗

Multiplex-PCR-based recombination as a novel high-fidelity method for directed evolution.

A new and convenient method for the in vitro recombination of single point mutations is presented. This method efficiently reduces the introduction of novel point mutations, which usually occur during recombination processes. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (multiplex-PCR) generates gene fragments that contain preformed point mutations. These fragments are subsequently assembled into full-length genes by a recombination-PCR step. The process of multiplex-PCR-based recombination (MUPREC) does not require DNase I digestion for gene-fragmentation and is therefore easy to perform, even with small amounts of target DNA. The protocol yields high frequencies of recombination without creating a wild-type background. Furthermore, the low error rate results in high-quality variant libraries of true recombinants, thereby minimizing the screening efforts and saving time and money. The MUPREC method was used in the directed evolution of a Bacillus subtilis lipase that can catalyse the enantioselective hydrolysis of a model meso-compound. Thereby, the method was proved to be useful in producing a reliable second-generation library of true recombinants from which better performing variants were identified by using a high-throughput electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) screening system.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Ligand-free Heck reactions using low Pd-loading.

Activated and non-activated aryl bromides undergo smooth ligand-less Heck reactions, provided low amounts of palladium salts such as Pd(OAc)2 are used (ideally 0.01-0.1 mol%). This industrially viable process appears to involve palladium nanoparticles.

Journal Article↗

A high-throughput NMR-based ee-assay using chemical shift imaging.

The throughput of a previously described NMR-based -assay has been increased by a factor of at least 4 as a consequence of adapting the system to chemical shift imaging; by using a 19-capillary system the enantiomeric purity of 5600 samples can be measured per day.

Journal Article↗

Controlling the enantioselectivity of enzymes by directed evolution: practical and theoretical ramifications.

A fundamentally new approach to asymmetric catalysis in organic chemistry is described based on the in vitro evolution of enantioselective enzymes. It comprises the appropriate combination of gene mutagenesis and expression coupled with an efficient high-throughput screening system for evaluating enantioselectivity (enantiomeric excess assay). Several such cycles lead to a "Darwinistic" process, which is independent of any knowledge concerning the structure or the mechanism of the enzyme being evolved. The challenge is to choose the optimal mutagenesis methods to navigate efficiently in protein sequence space. As a first example, the combination of error-prone mutagenesis, saturation mutagenesis, and DNA-shuffling led to a dramatic enhancement of enantioselectivity of a lipase acting as a catalyst in the kinetic resolution of a chiral ester. Mutations at positions remote from the catalytically active center were identified, a surprising finding, which was explained on the basis of a novel relay mechanism. The scope and limitations of the method are discussed, including the prospect of directed evolution of stereoselective hybrid catalysts composed of robust protein hosts in which transition metal centers have been implanted.

Directed Molecular Evolution↗

Learning from directed evolution: theoretical investigations into cooperative mutations in lipase enantioselectivity.

Molecular modeling with classical force-fields has been used to study the reactant complex and the tetrahedral intermediate in lipase-catalyzed ester hydrolysis in 20 enzyme/substrate combinations. The R and S enantiomers of alpha-methyldecanoic acid ester served as substrates for the wild-type lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and nine selected mutants. After suitable preparation of initial structures from an available wild-type crystal structure, each system was subjected to 1 ns CHARMM force-field molecular dynamics simulations. The resulting geometric and energetic changes allow interpretation of some experimentally observed effects of mutations, particularly with regard to the "hot spots" at residues 155 and 162. The replacement S155F enhances S enantiopreference through a steric relay involving Leu162. The double mutation S53P + L162G improves S enantioselectivity by creating a new binding pocket for the S enantiomer with an additional stabilizing hydrogen bond to His83. The simulations provide insight into remote and cooperative effects of mutations.

Catalysis↗

Enhancing the enantioselectivity of an epoxide hydrolase by directed evolution.

[reaction: see text] The epoxide hydrolase (EH) from Aspergillus niger, which shows a selectivity factor of only E = 4.6 in the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of glycidyl phenyl ether, has been subjected to directed evolution for the purpose of enhancing enantioselectivity. After only one round of error-prone polymerase chain reaction (epPCR), enantioselectivity was more than doubled (E = 10.8). The improved mutant enzyme contains three amino acid exchanges, two of which are spatially far from the catalytically active center.

Aspergillus niger↗

A practical high-throughput screening system for enantioselectivity by using FTIR spectroscopy.

For the first time FTIR spectroscopy has been applied to the measurement of enantiomeric purity. The underlying concept is based on the use of pseudo-enantiomers that are (13)C-labeled at appropriate positions. Upon applying Lambert-Beer's law in the determination of the concentrations of both enantiomers, the ee values are accessible, accuracy to within +/-5 % of the true values being possible. The application of a commercially available high-throughput FTIR system results in a slightly decreased accuracy (+/-7% for the ee values), but this allows a throughput of up to 10000 samples per day. The method is of interest in the area of combinatorial symmetric catalysis and directed evolution of enantioselective enzymes.

Journal Article↗

Binding of phage displayed Bacillus subtilis lipase A to a phosphonate suicide inhibitor.

Phage display can be used as a protein engineering tool to select proteins with desirable binding properties from a library of randomly constructed mutants. Here, we describe the development of this method for the directed evolution of Bacillus subtilis lipase A, an enzyme that has marked properties for the preparation of pharmaceutically relevant chiral compounds. The lipase gene was cloned upstream of the phage g3p encoding sequence and downstream of a modified g3p signal sequence. Consequently, the enzyme was displayed at the surface of bacteriophage fd as a fusion to its minor coat protein g3p. The phage-bound lipase was correctly folded and fully enzymatically active as determined from the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylcaprylate with K(m)-values of 0.38 and 0.33 mM for the phage displayed and soluble lipase, respectively. Both soluble lipase and lipase expressed on bacteriophages reacted covalently with a phosphonate suicide inhibitor. The phage does not hamper lipase binding, since both soluble and phage-bound lipase have a similar half-life of inactivation of approximately 5 min. Therefore, we conclude that the Bacillus lipase can be functionally expressed on bacteriophages as a fusion to the phage coat protein g3p. The specific interaction with the suicide inhibitor offers a fast and reproducible method for the future selection of mutant enzymes with an enantioselectivity towards new substrates.

Bacillus Phages↗