Bacillus stearothermophilus acetylacetoin synthase and diacetyl(acetoin)reductase in the synthesis of chiral a,b-dihydroxyketones

C-C Bond forming reaction is one of the main goals in synthetic organic chemistry and represents the critical step of many syntheses.1,2 In this field very attractive are the enzymatic C-C bond forming reactions that are highly chemo-, regio- and enantioselective. On the other hand the enzymatic reduction of prochiral carbonyl group to chiral alcohols is widely used in organic synthesis.3 In the present communication Bacillus stearothermophilus acetylacetoin synthase (AAS) has been used to synthesize α-hydroxy-1,3-diketones 2 and 3 (Figure 1) starting from the corresponding 1,2-diketones 1.4