Highly enhanced enzymatic regioselective benzoylation of 1-b-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine with an ionic liquid-containing medium

ORGN 391

Zi Yang Tan, tzy811214@tom.com, Department of Biotechnology, South China University of Technology, Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510640, China and Min Hua Zong, btmhzong@scut.edu.cn, Laboratory of Applied Biocatalysis, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
Regioselective acylation of 1-b-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C) using vinyl benzoate (VB) as an acyl donor and Novozym 435 as a catalyst was carried out in various reaction media including pure organic solvents, organic solvent mixtures and ionic liquid (IL)-containing systems for the first time. Although the reaction was highly regioselective in all the media assayed, a remarkable enhancement of substrate conversion (from below 6.1% to 99.4%) was achieved with a co-solvent mixture of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (C4MIm•PF6) and pyridine compared with other media tested. The optimum molar ratio of VB to ara-C, initial water activity, temperature and shaking rate were 25:1, 0.11, 40 ˚C and 250 rpm, respectively. Under the optimum reaction conditions mentioned above, the initial rate, substrate conversion and the regioselectivity were 0.49 mM•min-1, 99.4% and 99%, respectively. The product of the lipase-catalyzed reaction was characterized by 13C NMR and was shown to be 5 ¢-O-benzoyl ara-C.