Formation of a Chiral Hydroxamic Acid with an Amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis MP50 and Subsequent Chemical Lossen Rearrangement to a Chiral Amine.

The amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis MP50 demonstrated, in the presence of hydroxylamine, acyltransferase activity and catalyzed the formation of hydroxamates from amides and hydroxylamine. The rates of acyltransferase activity of the purified amidase for the substrates acetamide, phenylacetamide, and 2-phenylpropionamide were higher than the corresponding rates for the hydrolysis reactions. With the substrate 2-phenylpropionamide the hydrolysis reaction and the acyltransferase activity were highly enantioselective. The optically active 2-phenylpropionhydroxamate was converted by a chemical Lossen rearrangement in an aqueous medium into the enantiopure S-1-phenylethylamine.