Direct Reductive Amination of Biobased Furans to N-Substituted Furfurylamines by Engineered Reductive Aminase

Furfurylamines are important building blocks for the synthesis of many pharmacologically active compounds and polymers. In this work, direct reductive amination of biobased furans to N-substituted furfurylamines by reductive aminase from Aspergillus oryzae (AspRedAm) was reported. Besides the reductive aminase activity, AspRedAm also showed a promiscuous, yet low alcohol dehydrogenase activity. The variant W210F proved to be a good catalyst for the synthesis of N-substituted furfurylamines. Furans were transformed to the target products with the conversions up to >99% and selectivities up to >99%. In addition, N-substituted furfurylamines were synthesized in the total turnover number (TTN) up to 3200 on a preparative scale, indicating the applicability of this biocatalytic route in synthetic chemistry.

Automated summary

In this study, Aspergillus oryzae reductive aminase was used to directly synthesize N-substituted furfurylamines from biobased furans, showing high efficiency and selectivity, indicating significant potential for applications in synthetic chemistry.