Enantioselective dehydrochlorination of δ-Hexachlorocyclohexane and δ-Pentachlorocyclohexene by LinA1 and LinA2 from Sphingobium indicum B90A.

δ-Hexachlorocyclohexane (δ-HCH), one of the prevalent isomers of technical HCH, was enantioselectively dehydrochlorinated by the dehydrochlorinases LinA1 and LinA2 from Sphingobium indicum B90A to the very same δ-pentachlorocyclohexene enantiomer. Racemic δ-pentachlorocyclohexene, however, was transformed with opposite enantioselectivities by the two enzymes. A transformation pathway based on an anti-1,2-elimination, followed by a syn-1,4-elimination and a subsequent syn-1,2-elimination is postulated.