Direct Reductive Amination of Biobased Furans to N ‐Substituted Furfurylamines by Engineered Reductive Aminase

Furfurylamines are important building blocks for the synthesis of many pharmacologically active compounds and polymers. In this work, direct reductive amination of biobased furans to N ‐substituted furfurylamines by reductive aminase from Aspergillus oryzae ( Asp RedAm) was reported. Besides the reductive aminase activity, Asp RedAm also showed a promiscuous, yet low alcohol dehydrogenase activity. The variant W210F proved to be a good catalyst for the synthesis of N ‐substituted furfurylamines. Furans were transformed to the target products with the conversions up to >99% and selectivities up to >99%. In addition, N ‐substituted furfurylamines were synthesized in the total turnover number (TTN) up to 3200 on a preparative scale, indicating the applicability of this biocatalytic route in synthetic chemistry.