Patent ID: 8178324

Claim:
A method for the enantiomeric conversion of amines comprising treating a chiral amine of Formula I or a mixture of amine enantiomers of Formula I in which: a) R is H or C1-4alkyl; R1 and R2 are independently selected from substituted or unsubstituted C1-10alkyl, C1-10 alkenyl, C1-10cycloalkyl, C1-10heterocycle, C1-10aryl, C1-10heteroaryl, C1-4-alkyl-aryl, C1-4alkyl-heteroaryl, C1-4-alkyl-C1-6cycloalkyl and C1-4-alkyl-C1-6heterocycle; or b) R is H or C1-4alkyl, R1 and R2 together form a substituted or unsubstituted C1-10cycloalkyl ring system or C1-10aryl ring containing one or more heteroatoms; or c) R1 and R1 together form a substituted or unsubstituted C1-10 cycloakyl or C1-10aryl ring system which may contain one or more heteroatoms and R2 is defined as in a) above; with a Type II amine oxidase enzyme capable of catalyzing oxidation of the amine in a stereoselective manner and treating with a reducing agent wherein said Type II amine oxidase enzyme is selected from the group consisting of: a Type II amine oxidase enzyme which has a sequence differing from wild-type Aspergillus niger monoamine oxidase by mutation in the region of amino acids 334-350 of SEQ ID NO:1; a Type II amine oxidase enzyme having a sequence differing from wild type A. niger monoamine oxidase by mutation of the amino acid at position number 336 of SEQ ID NO:1; a Type II amine oxidase enzyme having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2; and a Type II amine oxidase enzyme which is a variant of A. niger monoamine oxidase of SEQ ID NO:1, said variant having asparagine replaced by serine at amino acid position number 336 of SEQ ID NO:1, and one or more of the following: (a) methionine replaced by lysine at amino acid position number 348 of SEQ ID NO:1, (b) arginine replaced by leucine at amino acid position number 259 of SEQ ID NO:1, or (c) arginine replaced by leucine at amino acid position number 260 of SEQ ID NO:1.