Comparison of Diverse Amine Donors for Use in the High-Throughput Screening of Amine Transaminases

Chiral amines are important structural features of many pharmaceutical and agrochemical compounds; accordingly, numerous synthetic methods have been developed to enable the installation of this functional group. Of the many available methods, amine transaminases have gained attention as stereoselective, efficient, and green catalysts. As selection of transaminases for a given transformation most often cannot be performed a priori, high-throughput screens are often used to identify a suitable catalyst. One concern with high-throughput screening is that while the transaminase may accept a particular substrate, it is possible that the amine donor may not be compatible with the enzyme in question. Here, we compare five common and diverse amine donors and identify those that have the broadest compatibility with various amine transaminases. Findings were used to further probe larger enzyme panels and reveal preferences that engineered and wild-type enzymes have for differing amine donors. In the process of exploring amine donors, we also define a concise set of transaminases that catalyze the production of substituted benzylamines.