Researchers at the University of Milan, Italy, have found a way to make aldoximes using a chemoenzymatic approach using acetic acid bacteria – Acetobacter species, Gluconobacter oxydans and Asaia bogorensis – to oxidize alcohols and then to condense the intermediate with hydroxylamine to generate these industrially useful materials. The process can be more efficient than conventional synthetic approaches with the added advantage of high selectivity and stereocontrol intrinsic to whole-cell or isolated enzymes. The enzymic approach also side-steps high temperatures and volatile organic solvents.
The team describes their method as “an easy and efficient alternative to heavy metal-based solutions for the one-pot preparation of aldoximes directly from alcohols.”
- One-pot chemoenzymatic synthesis of aldoximes from primary alcohols in water,
Francesco Molinari, Diego Romano, Paolo Zambelli, Paola Conti, Andrea Pinto, Lucia Tamborini, Raffaella Villa, Elena Crotti,
Green Chem. 2012.
DOI: 10.1039/C2GC35764J
