Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
from
epi
-progoitrin; the latter is obtainable in large
quantity by extraction of residues from the com-
mercial oil crop plant
Crambe abyssinica
, and the 1,3-
oxazolidine-2-thiones produced in this way can
serve as chiral starting materials for a variety of
chemical syntheses [41].
Fig. 9.16
Products of metabolic pathway engineering in
Escherichia coli
.
acid (or hydrolysed safflower seed oil) using a crude
lipoxygenase enzyme preparation from soybeans
(SBLO) (Fig. 9.17) [37,38]. The product of this reac-
tion may be reduced to the corresponding alcohol
((+)-coriolic acid), or by steam distillation converted
to (
S
)-2-nonen-4-olide, a member of the flavour
lactone family [39].
A range of chiral 4- and 5-substituted 1,3-
oxazolidine-2-thiones is available via hydrolysis of
glucosinolates of plant origin using an immobilised
myrosinase enzyme preparation [40,41]. This is illus-
trated in Fig. 9.18 for the preparation of
epi
-goitrin
2.6 Polymers
Biocatalytic polymer formation by whole cell systems
is limited to the production of biopolymers such as the
poly(hydroxyalkanoates) typified by poly(3-hydrox-
ybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), produced by
Ral-
stonia eutropha
and marketed by Monsanto as Biopol
®
[42]. The economics of poly(hydroxyalkanoate) pro-
