S103: Biocatalysis in the synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates

Syntheses of active pharmaceutical ingredients from commercially available starting materials are usually multistep processes involving several intermediates often requiring chemo-, regio-, and stereo-selective transformations. Biocatalysis is extremely powerful for carrying out selective transformation with the added advantage of being a “green” process. In addition to the identification and development of enzymes to carry out the desired selective transformation, process issues often need to be addressed for the successful application of biocatalysis to the synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates. This presentation will describe identification of enzymes for various selective transformations, process development, and preparation of several pharmaceutical intermediates via biocatalysis.