Nucleoside derivatives are a class of compounds that have attracted intense interest in biotechnology and medicine. Use of biocatalysts opens exciting opportunities for selective synthesis of many nucleoside derivatives, and such an approach offers simplicity, exquisite selectivity and environmentally benign processes. Here we reviewed current achievements in the biocatalytic transformation of nucleoside derivatives from the literature between 2000 and 2009. This article is arranged according to the types of reactions that can be employed to transform nucleoside derivatives, which include acylation, deacylation, glycosylation, halogenation and deamination.
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