Production of (S)-2-chloropropionate by asymmetric reduction of 2-chloroacrylate with 2-haloacrylate reductase coupled with glucose dehydrogenase.

(S)-2-Chloropropionate is a synthetic intermediate for phenoxypropionic acid herbicides. We constructed a system for asymmetric reduction of 2-chloroacrylate to produce (S)-2-chloropropionate with recombinant Escherichia coli cells producing 2-haloacrylate reductase from Burkholderia sp. WS and an NADPH regeneration system. The system provided 37.4 g/l (S)-2-chloropropionate in more than 99.9%e.e.