Method for enzymatic synthesis of brivaracetam chiral intermediate

Abstract

A method for synthesizing a brivaracetam chiral intermediate (R)-3-cyanohexanoic acid by catalyzing the hydrolysis of 3-cyanohexanitile using an enzyme with nitile hydrolysis activity, and the enzyme with nitrile hydrolysis activity is obtained by carrying out a single mutation or a double mutation on an amino acid at position 140 or an amino acid at position 175 in an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO.2. Compared with a wild type, the nitrilase mutant has the activity increased by 10 times, an ee value increased to 300 or more from 39, a substrate conversion rate of 45%, and a product ee which can reach 98.5%, and the yield of (R)-3-aminomethyl-hexanoic acid by catalytic hydrogenation synthesis using (R)-3-cyanohexanoic acid reaches 85% or more. This features a short synthesis route, mild reaction conditions, and high atom economy, and can be applied to the industrial synthesis of the brivaracetam intermediate.

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