Bioreduction of α-methyleneketones

Abstract

Bioreduction of methyleneketones was carried out with Rhizopus arrhizus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisae. The α-substituted enones were enantioselectively reduced to saturated ketones with good to excellent ee, depending of microorganism. With the S. cerevisae good ee (12-93%) was obtained while excellent ee (99%) was achieved with P. fluorescens.