Microbial transformation of racemic hydantoins to D-amino acids

It has been shown that resting cells of Agrobacterium radiobacter catalyze a sequence of two stereospecific hydrolytic reactions leading to the complete transformation of racemic hydantoins to D‐amino acids. This report describes some properties of this new biocatalyst and its potential application for the production of some D‐amino acids, which are used as intermediates in the preparation of semisynthetic penicillin and cephalosporins.