Toward the Sustainable Production of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Metaraminol

Metaraminol is an active pharmaceutical ingredient for hypotension treatment and can serve as a precursor for otherbioactive compounds. The production of metaraminol was shownpreviously in an enzymatic cascade consisting of a carboligationand transamination step using the oil-based amine donorisopropylamine. Alternatively, renewableL-alanine can be used.By iterative strain and process engineering, the microbialproduction of pyruvate andL-alanine withCorynebacteriumglutamicumin a one-pot fermentation process was achieved. Thesubsequent biotransformation was realized by direct carboligationof 3-OH-benzaldehyde and biobased pyruvate to (R)-3-OH-phenylacetylcarbinol in the fermentation supernatant with highyields (>= 92% conversion) and stereoselectivity (>98%ee) afteroptimization. The decoupled transamination step utilized biobasedL-alanine for metaraminol synthesis. This study elucidates thecompatibility of biocatalytic conversions in complex fermentation matrices and highlights implications for the integration of novel biobased processes

Automated summary

This study achieved the microbial production of pyruvate and L-alanine in a one-pot fermentation process, and then transformed them into Metaraminol with high yields and stereoselectivity through a series of reactions.