Functionalization of aromatic compounds by acylation has considerable significance in synthetic organic chemistry. As an alternative to chemical Friedel-Crafts acylation, the C-acyltransferase from Pseudomonas protegens has been found to catalyze C-C bond formation with non-natural resorcinol substrates. Extending the scope of acyl donors, it is now shown that the enzyme is also able to catalyze C-S bond cleavage prior to C-C bond formation, thus aliphatic and aromatic thioesters can be used as acyl donors. It is worth to mention that this reaction can be performed in aqueous buffer. Identifying ethyl thioacetate as the most suitable acetyl donor, the products were obtained with up to >99 % conversion and up to 88 % isolated yield without using additional base additives; this represents a significant advancement to prior protocols.
Keywords: C−C bond formation; Friedel-Crafts reaction; acylation; acyltransferase; thioesters.