CASCADES

Cascades allow for the combination of several sequential synthetic steps without any isolation of the intermediates, hence saving time and effort. Additionally, they are also useful when some of the reaction intermediates are unstable or hard to isolate and purify. In this context, enzymes are ideal catalysts for these processes as most of them share compatible reaction conditions. Due to our extensive portfolio of enzymes, we have developed a series of enzymatic cascades for the synthesis of chiral amines. Recent examples include the combination of amine oxidases and imine reductases; carboxylic acid reductases, transaminases and imine reductases; and ‘hydrogen borrowing’ cascades by combining alcohol dehydrogenases and amine dehydrogenases or reductive aminases. Moreover, we have also developed a series of chemoenzymatic cascades by combining metal-, organo- and photocatalysts with our enzymes to access a broad range of chiral amine scaffolds by bringing the best of the different fields of catalysis together.