Scalable, Telescoped Hydrogenolysis–Enzymatic Decarboxylation Process for the Asymmetric Synthesis of (R)-α-Heteroaryl Propionic Acids

Enantiopure α-aryl propionic acids are useful building blocks for pharmaceutical research and can be accessed enzymatically using arylmalonate decarboxylases (AMDases) from the corresponding malonic acids. However, the intrinsic instability of malonic acids is a major drawback to this approach in which spontaneous decarboxylation can occur, subsequently eroding enantioselectivity and giving rise to racemic products. This was particularly evident for a panel of N-heterocyclic propionic acids that we wished to access using the approach. Herein, we describe a process to overcome the spontaneous decarboxylation problem in which hydrogenolysis of the corresponding dibenzyl malonates was performed in a biphasic toluene–basic aqueous buffer mixture and telescoped into the subsequent AMDase step. This procedure enabled compounds to be accessed in high enantioselectivities and was successfully demonstrated on 120 g with high yield (76%) and ee (98%).