Biocatalytic routes to chiral amines and amino acids.

Biocatalysis is a well-known and well-established technology that allows clean and straightforward stereoselective transformations to be conducted under mild reaction conditions. Traditionally, hydrolases, oxidoreductases and lyases have been used for these transformations to give the final products in excellent yields and with a high level of enantiopurity. Particular attention has been focused on biocatalytic routes because of the increasing demand for economic and environmentally friendly processes for the manufacture of single enantiomer drugs and high added-value compounds by the industrial sector. Recent advances in the field of biotransformations applied to the production of chiral amines and amino acids are reviewed.