Microbial nitrile transformations: prospection for microorganisms, synthesis of chiral bioactive compounds and biodegradation

Abstract

Nitriles are versatile compounds due to their ability to afford amides, amines, imines, oximes, carboxylic acids, esters and alcohols which correspond to economically important synthetic intermediates. Biotransformation of nitriles mediated by microorganisms has attracted considerable attention in academy and industries since it is a sustainable alternative to conventional chemical reactions which requires harsh conditions of pH, temperature and pressure, use of metallic catalysts, high energy consumption during the process and low selectivity specially with multifunctionalized molecules. As a result, the search for microorganism which contains the enzymes responsible for such biotransformations (nitrilase, nitrile hydratase and amidase) in high throughput is crucial. Besides their synthetic value, the nitrile converting enzymes also play an important role in environmental protection and have been used successfully in biodegradation and bioremediation of anthropogenic organonitrile contaminated areas. Therefore, in this project we intend to perform microorganism prospection for nitrile converting enzymes from Brazilian biodiversity, specially nitrile hydratase and amidase; use them to obtain chiral building blocks for synthesizing antiparasitic compounds and to perform biodegradation of toxic benzonitrile herbicides still used in Brazil with government approval. (AU)