Earthworm is a versatile and sustainable biocatalyst for organic synthesis

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 22;9(8):e105284. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105284. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

A crude extract of earthworms was used as an eco-friendly, environmentally benign, and easily accessible biocatalyst for various organic synthesis including the asymmetric direct aldol and Mannich reactions, Henry and Biginelli reactions, direct three-component aza-Diels-Alder reactions for the synthesis of isoquinuclidines, and domino reactions for the synthesis of coumarins. Most of these reactions have never before seen in nature, and moderate to good enantioselectivities in aldol and Mannich reactions were obtained with this earthworm catalyst. The products can be obtained in preparatively useful yields, and the procedure does not require any additional cofactors or special equipment. This work provides an example of a practical way to use sustainable catalysts from nature.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aldehydes / chemical synthesis
  • Animals
  • Catalysis
  • Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic*
  • Complex Mixtures / chemistry
  • Coumarins / chemical synthesis
  • Oligochaeta / chemistry*

Substances

  • Aldehydes
  • Complex Mixtures
  • Coumarins
  • 3-hydroxybutanal
  • coumarin

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 21276211), http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.