Sequential Biotransformation and Metal-catalyzed Reactions in Unconventional Media for the Synthesis of Pharmaceutically Relevant Molecules

Increasing environmentally awareness has pressured companies to become more proactive in addressing public concerns related to environmental effect of products during use and as waste, and to drive the field of synthetic chemistry towards more green practice.1 In this context, the use of renewable feedstocks of more environmentally responsible solvents like the so-called Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) is seen by many as an important strategy towards sustainable development.1,2 Previous findings from our research group have shown that DESs behave as effective ligands and catalysts in several metal-3 and biocatalyzed4 transformations, also aimed at synthesizing heterocyclic compounds.5 In this communication, we report two sequential transformations based on a kinetic resolution of racemic secondary alcohols and biotransformation, followed by a Negishi cross-coupling reaction an route to pharmaceutically relevant compounds concerning anti- Alzheimer’s drug.