Patent ID: 7592165

Claim:
A process for the enzymatic preparation of an amide from a nitrile, which comprises contacting a compound comprising a nitrile group with a polypeptide having nitrile hydratase activity thereby converting the nitrile to the corresponding amide, wherein said polypeptide a) comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, or 5, b) is encoded by a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 4, or c) is encoded by a polynucleotide which hybridizes with the complementary sequence of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 4 under stringent conditions, where stringent conditions mean washing in 5XSSC at a temperature of from 50 to 65° C.; or microorganism which produces the polypeptide, or a lysate thereof.