Synthesis of Enantiopure Fluorohydrins Using Alcohol Dehydrogenases at High Substrate Concentrations

The use of purified and overexpressed alcohol dehydrogenases to synthesize enantiopure fluorinated alcohols is shown. When the bioreductions were performed with ADH-A from Rhodococcus ruber overexpressed in E. coli, no external cofactor was necessary to obtain the enantiopure (R)-derivatives. Employing Lactobacillus brevis ADH, it was possible to achieve the synthesis of enantiopure (S)-fluorohydrins at a 0.5 M substrate concentration. Furthermore, due to the activated character of these substrates, a huge excess of the hydrogen donor was not necessary.