Enzymatic Acyloin Condensation of Acyclic Aldehydes

Corynespora cassiicola DSM 62474 and Diplodia gossypina ATCC 10936 were found to cleave some acyclic terminal terpendiols and prolongate them later by addition of a C -unit to afford 1,2-dihydroxy-propyl-compounds. The enzymes involved in this reaction from both microorganisms displayed a strong stereoselectivity which is completely different in both strains. The stereochemi­cal requirements of the substrates for both strains and the mechanism were elucidated by using closely related substrates. The absolute configuration of the diols were solved by correlation with com pounds of known absolute configuration.