Abstract
We have studied asymmetric reductions using plant seedlings and cultured cells as biocatalysts. In this work, we used Arabidopsis seedlings as a biocatalyst for reduction of ketones and investigated the factors affecting the chemical yields and enantioselectivities.
We incubated 1-4 weeks old seedlings for 24 hours in the reaction media containing either trifluoroacetophenone or t-butyl acetoacetate as ketone substrate, and quantified the ketones and the corresponding alcohols in the media by gas chromatography.
Results indicated that Arabidopsis seedlings were able to work as a biocatalyst for asymmetric reductions. The high chemical yields were obtained with the seedlings pre-incubated in the light condition compare to the seedlings pre-incubated in the dark, and the leaves showed the highest yield for reduction among the organs, suggesting that these reactions would be involved in photosynthesis. In contrast, the age and size of the seedlings did not have a significant effect on chemical yields and enantiosectivities. We believe that the use of Arabidopsis thaliana, which is widely used as a model plant system, might open a new field for biotransformation.
