Nitrilase-Catalyzed Enantioselective Synthesis of Pyrrolidine- and Piperidinecarboxylic Acids

The enantioselective synthesis of the non‐proteinogenic amino acids β‐proline and nipecotic acids from their readily available nitriles is achieved in high enantiomeric excess by commercially available nitrilases. The presented procedure comprises not more than 4 steps, thus considerably reducing the multiple steps generally required. Amide formation is also observed for specific heterocyclic nitriles.