An innovative route for the production of atorvastatin side-chain precursor by DERA-catalysed double aldol addition

[Display omitted] •A multi-enzyme route for the amino lactol production was proposed.•Phenylacetamide amino-protected propanal was used as the starting substrate.•Mathematical model-based optimisation was performed.•DERA reaction and oxidation was studied in detail.•DERA reaction and the oxidation can be carried out in one pot process. A multi-enzyme route for the production of an atorvastatin side-chain was proposed. The approach includes the consecutive double aldol addition of acetaldehyde to the phenylacetamide amino-protected propanal by 2-deoxyribose-5-phosphate aldolase (DERA), the oxidation by ketoreductase, the lipase-catalysed acylation and amino group deprotection by penicillin G-acylase. To explore the feasibility of the process, the DERA reaction was studied into detail. Based on the kinetic and stability studies, a mathematical model was developed and validated in a batch and fed-batch reactor. The highest productivity was obtained in repetitive batch reactor (229.1 g/(L day)). The highest final product concentration of 124 g/L was obtained in fed-batch reactor. The mathematical model-based optimisation provided insight into the possibilities for process metrics improvement. Further, the second step was explored. The results showed that the DERA reaction and the oxidation reaction can be carried out as the multi-enzyme one pot process in the sequential manner.