10.1021/acs.oprd.6b00059
The study presents an efficient chemoenzymatic synthesis route for coenzyme A (CoASH) and its disulfide, which is scalable to gram quantities using standard laboratory equipment. The key innovation is the use of pantethine, a disulfide derivative of pantetheine, as the biocatalytic precursor. This approach eliminates the need for a sulfhydryl protecting group and prevents sulfur oxidation by-products. The synthesis involves a five-step process starting from ?-alanine, yielding pantethine with a 76% overall yield. The three enzymes of the CoASH salvage pathway—pantetheine kinase (PanK), phosphopantetheine adenyltransferase (PPAT), and dephospho-coenzyme A kinase (DPCK)—are used to convert pantethine into CoA disulfide, a more stable form of the cofactor. The final product, CoA disulfide, can be reduced in situ to free CoASH for biochemical applications. The method avoids chromatography until the final step, facilitating scale-up, and the disulfide form of CoASH is more stable and valuable than the free thiol form.