Enzymatic synthesis of chiral alcohols using ketoreductases

Ketoreductases(KREDs), which play an important role in the preparation of chiral alcohol drug intermediates, are promising biocatalysts that can lead chiral alcohol preparation to become a greener and more sustainable process. Two decades ago, KREDs were widely researched from protein structure to catalytic mechanism, and many researchers worked on catalytic properties research. And from decades ago, with protein engineering development, KREDs become useful in the chiral alcohol production process. This review has summarized KREDs from protein structure to applications, from the perspective of biocatalysis, providing a detailed introduction to different KRED structures and many applications, as well as the enzyme library construction and bioreactor applications.