Patent ID: 8617854

Claim:
A method of production of substituted, optically active alcohols of formula IV in which Cyc stands for a mono- or polynuclear, saturated or unsaturated, carbocyclic or heterocyclic, optionally singly or multiply substituted ring, which has at least one free hydroxyl group, and R 1 and R 2 independently of one another stand for H or an optionally singly or multiply substituted alkyl residue; or of salts of this compound; in each case in stereoisomerically pure form or as a mixture of stereoisomers, wherein a) a ketone of formula I in which Cyc has the meanings stated above, is reacted in the presence of an aliphatic alcohol with a halogenating agent to a halogenated compound of formula II in which Cyc has the meanings stated above and Hal stands for a halogen atom; b) the resultant compound of formula II is reduced enzymatically by an ADH enzyme comprising a polypeptide sequence selected from the group consisting of (i) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, and (ii) the amino acid sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 to the alcohol of formula III in which Cyc and Hal have the meanings stated above; and c) the resultant alcohol of formula III is reacted with an amine of formula HNR 1 R 2 , in which R 1 and R 2 have the meanings stated above, to the compound of formula IV.