Recent advances in immobilized ω-transaminase for chiral amine synthesis

Enzymatic synthesis of chiral amines has witnessed remarkable progress in the past decade. Prominently, using recombinant and evolved ω-Transaminases (ω-TA), an ecofriendly and more efficient process was developed to replace well-established chemical processes for synthesizing chiral amines. However, the process employing a soluble form of enzyme needs additional downstream purification steps contributing to the total process cost. Thus, over the years, different immobilization approaches have been employed to streamline ω-TA downstream processes, widen the stability profile of TA in different mediums and conditions, alleviate product inhibition, and facilitate continuous flow operation. Herein, we summarize literature dedicated to immobilized ω-TA in chiral amine synthesis and present an overview of all the representative strategies used to improve the ω-TA process. We have discussed the immobilization matrices, cofactor and multi-enzyme immobilization strategies, one-pot immobilization, and purification of ω-TA for batch and continuous synthesis of optically active amines in different dedicated sections of the review.