Building blocks for the preparation of enantiomerically pure drugs containing a phenylalkylamine moiety

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/ardp.19943270907

The enantiomers of chiral drugs may exhibit distinctly different pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Thus, the application of pure enantiomers is desirable in most cases. Therefore, it is neccessary to know which enantiomer is the more advantageous one and to work out an economical large scale synthesis of this pure enantiomer. Biocatalytic transformations of prochiral compounds provide an easy and efficient access to chiral, non racemic compounds. Therefore, we fixed upon microbial reductions of carbonyl compounds as the key steps in the preparation of enantiomerically pure building blocks.