The enantioselective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides with Acinetobacter sp. NCIMB 9871, Pseudomonas sp. NCIMB 9872, Xanthobacter autotrophicus DSM 431 (NCIMB 10811) and the Black Yeast NV-2

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0957-4166(96)00007-9

Whole cell oxidation of aryl alkyl sulfides to sulfoxides with Acinetobacter sp. NCIMB 9871 is only slightly less enantioselective than isolated enzyme transformation with the cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) from the same species. Pseudomonas sp. NCIMB 9872 oxidises the same substrates with high and mostly opposite enantioselectivity (73-100%ee). CHMO activity was detected in the black yeast NV-2 and Xanthobacter autotrophicus DSM 431 (NCIMB 10811), but contrary to an earlier report this activity could not be detected in cell free extracts of the latter. Both species oxidised methyl phenyl sulfide exclusively to the corresponding (R)-sulfoxide (100% ee).