Update 1 of: Enantioselective Enzymatic Desymmetrizations in Organic Synthesis

Various developments made towards the use of biocatalysts for the desymmetrization of meso and prochiral compounds are reviewed. Studied have found that the hydrolysis of meso epoxides generally displays low enantioselectivities. Fukuyama and co-workers reported the total synthesis of Leustroducsin, a potent colonystimulating factor inducer isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces platensis SANK 60191. Prati and co-workers have carried out the Amano PS lipasecatalyzed desymmetrization of aziridine, whose monoacetylated derivative, obtained in high yield and ee, is related to a key intermediate used in the total synthesis of the already mentioned antibiotic FR-900482. Sugai and co-workers have investigated the substrate specificity of the reduction of different triketones with the yeast strain Torulaspora delbrueckii IFO10921.