Conversion of lysine phosphate to 1.5 pentanediamine and separation of diamines from amino and carboxylic acids

Abstract

A method of making 1,5 pentanediamine (a.k.a. PDA, pentamethyldiamine, PMDA and cadaverine) by decarboxylation of lysine using lysine decarboxylase in the presence of sulfate, or more preferably phosphate anion salts of lysine is described. The process works at high pHs at which the decarboxylase does not function using HCL salts of lysine and at substrate concentrations not achievable with lysine HCL at the ordinary pH optima of the carboxylase. In addition, a chromatographic process for purifying the PDA from lysine and the conjugate anions of the lysine salt is described that is applicable as a general process for purifying any diamine from a product mixture comprising amino and/or carboxylic acids along with their conjugate anions, which method uses a strong anion exchange resin as the stationary phase. The method does not utilize any organic solvent and is shown to be economical and efficient for industrial scale isolation of diamines from complex mixtures containing amino and/or carboxylic acids and conjugate anions from the amine salts.

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