Chemo- and enantioselective hydrolysis of nitriles and acid amides, respectively, with resting cells of Rhodococcus sp. C3II and Rhodococcus erythropolis MP50

The two new bacterial strains, Rhodococcus sp. C3II and Rhodococcus erythropolis MP50, which have been especially selected for the enantioselective hydrolysis of pharmaceutically interesting 2-arylpropionitriles like naproxen nitrile, have been applied for the hydrolysis of various aliphatic and aromatic nitriles and acid amides. From the enantioselective hydrolysis of racemic ibuprofen amide 4, 2-phenylbutyronitrile 5a as well as the profen-related atrolactamide 8 we deduce the decisive role of both an alkyl and aryl substituent in the alpha-position to the nitrile or amide function for high enantioselectivity of the hydrolysis. Strain C3II and MP50 differ in the activity of their nitrile hydratase-amidase enzyme systems. This is of interest for the regioselective hydrolysis of the dinitriles 10a-13a to diacids 10f-13f. While strain C3II is suitable to preferentially produce mononitrile monoamide derivatives, strain MP50 can be used especially to form mononitrile monoacid and monoamide monoacid derivatives. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.