Benzimidazole as deazapurine analogue for microbial transglycosylation

Benzimidazole nucleosides are compounds with interesting pharmacological properties. Although chemical synthesis of these analogues has been carried out, only few derivatives have been obtained so far using biotransformations. We report herein the biocatalysed preparation of benzimidazole ribo- and 2′-deoxyribonucleosides by different microbial whole cells that afforded yields between 75 and 85%.