A new biocatalytic route to enantiopure N-carbamoyl amino acids by fast enzyme screening

The enantioselective enzymatic deamidation of (rac)-N-carbamoyl amino acid amides (Cbm-AA-NH2) to enantiopure (L)-N-carbamoyl amino acids (Cbm-AA-OH) is described for the first time. Via fast screening methods of biocatalysts several proteases like Chirazyme P1, Chirazyme P2 and Subtilisin were identified, which give conversions of up to 47% and >98% ee. This conversion is most productive on aliphatic and primary amino acids.