Study of methylene beta-ketoesters reduction by microorganisms

• Grant number: 05/00946-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2005
• End date: February 28, 2006
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: José Augusto Rosário Rodrigues
• Grantee: Giuliano Cesar Clososki
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

We intend to investigate the mono and the double direct methylenation of ,-ketoesters and to study the reduction of the C=C bond and the carbonyl of various ketones. Suitable yeast will be used as biocatalysts which are available in Brazilian culture collections to carry out asymmetric reductions of enones to generate two or three stereogenic centers. The biocatalysts should be selected in accord to their capacity to perform the transformations giving compounds with high enantiomeric purity. The main motivation is to find synthetic alternatives to obtain synthetic intermediates that could be used in the synthesis of molecule with relevant pharmacological properties, which have been prepared by asymmetric aldol reactions.