Abstract
Marine fungi belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Bionectria catalyzed the biotransformation of phenylacetonitrile to 2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. Eight marine fungi, selected and cultured with phenylacetonitrile in liquid mineral medium, catalyzed it quantitative biotransformation to 2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. In this study, the nitrile group was firstly hydrolysed, and then, the aromatic ring was hydroxylated, producing 2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid with 51 % yield isolated. In addition, the 4-fluorophenylacetonitrile was exclusively biotransformed to 4-fluorophenylacetic acid by Aspergillus sydowii Ce19 (yield = 51 %). The enzymatic biotransformation of nitriles is not trivial, and here, we describe an efficient method for production of phenylacetic acids in mild conditions.
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Acknowledgments
JRO thanks FAPESP (grant no. 2008/56371-9) for the scholarships. The authors wish to thank Prof. R.G.S. Berlinck (Instituto de Química de São Carlos–USP) for providing the marine fungal strains. ALMP is grateful to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support. The authors also wish to thank Professor Arlene G. Corrêa (DQ/UFSCar, São Carlos, SP, Brazil) for donating the 4-fluorophenylacetonitrile.
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de Oliveira, J.R., Mizuno, C.M., Seleghim, M.H.R. et al. Biotransformation of Phenylacetonitrile to 2-Hydroxyphenylacetic Acid by Marine Fungi. Mar Biotechnol 15, 97–103 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-012-9464-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-012-9464-1