Application of Imine Reductase in Bioactive Chiral Amine Synthesis

Nitrogen-containing compounds, especially those with chiral amine structures, play a pivotal role in the field of organic active pharmaceutical ingredients. Traditional racemate resolution and chemical synthesis methods for the preparation of chiral amines suffer drawbacks such as high cost and environmental pollution. Over the past decades, stereoselective synthesis of nitrogen-containing compounds by biocatalytic methods such as imine reductase (IRED)-mediated transformation has become increasingly prominent. The prominence of imine reductases lies in their capacity to catalyze the reductive amination of aldehydes or ketones with primary or secondary amines, as well as their broader substrate scope. Furthermore, imine reductases exhibit diverse catalytic cycling systems that are unaffected by adverse reaction equilibria. This article focuses on the development of drug molecules or intermediates in biocatalytic synthesis mediated by imine reductase.