Atroposelective Synthesis of Axial Biaryls by Dynamic Kinetic Resolution Using Engineered Imine Reductases

Abstract

Axially chiral biaryls are ubiquitous scaffolds in natural products, bioactive molecules, chiral ligands and catalysts, but biocatalytic methods for their asymmetric synthesis are limited. Here, we report a highly efficient biocatalytic route for the atroposelective synthesis of biaryls via dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR). This DKR approach features a transient six‐membered aza‐acetal bridge‐promoted racemization followed by an imine‐reductase (IRED)‐catalyzed stereoselective reduction to construct the axial chirality at ambient conditions. Directed evolution of an IRED from Streptomyces sp. GF3546 provided a variant (S‐IRED‐Ss‐M11) capable of catalyzing the DKR process to access a variety of biaryl aminoalcohols in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% yield and >99:1 enantiomeric ratio). Molecular dynamics simulation studies on the S‐IRED‐Ss‐M11 variant revealed the origin of its improved activity and atroposelectivity. By exploiting the substrate promiscuity of IREDs and the power of directed evolution, our work further extends the biocatalysts' toolbox to construct challenging axially chiral molecules.