Patent ID: 8921079

Claim:
A process for preparing an amine product of structural formula (I): having the indicated stereochemical configuration at the stereogenic center marked with an *; in an enantiomeric excess over the opposite enantiomer, wherein R 1 is optionally substituted aryl or heteroaryl; R 2 is an optionally substituted C 1 -C 6 alkyl, —R 3 C(O)R 4 , or —R 3 OC(O)R 5 R 3 is an optionally substituted C 1 -C 4 alkyl, and R 4 is H, an optionally substituted C 1 -C 4 alkyl, NR 6 R 7 , Cl, Br, F, CH 3 , CF 3 , CN, SO 2 , —OCH 3 , NO 2 , or OR 8 , where R 5 , R 6 , R 7 , and R 8 are an optionally substituted C 1 -C 4 alkyl; the process comprising contacting a ketone substrate of structural formula (II): with a transaminase polypeptide in presence of an amino donor under reaction conditions suitable for converting the ketone substrate to the amine product, wherein the transaminase polypeptide has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:74 and is capable of converting the ketone substrate to the amine product at a rate that is improved as compared to SEQ ID NO:2.