Banyu Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd

Zaidan Hojin Biseibutsu Kagaku Kenkyu Kai

Microbial Chemistry Research Foundation

Shuichi Iwadare

Hamao Umezawa

Tomio Takeuchi

Hajime Morishima

Ikuo Matsumoto

Toshiharu Nagatsu

Masa Hamada

Junji Yoshizawa

Hirotaro Narabayashi

Koji Tomimoto

DL- or L-Threo-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-methyl-serine which may also be termed as DL- or L-threo-adrenalinecarboxylic acid are now provided, which are new compounds useful for therapeutic treatment of Parkinson's disease and mental depression disease. DL-Adrenalinecarboxylic acid may be produced by a new process comprising reacting glycine with O-protected 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, hydrolyzing the resultant reaction product under acidic conditions to form O-protected DL-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine, isolating the O-protected DL-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine into the threo isomer and the erythro isomer by recrystallization from a suitable organic solvent, introducing an unsubstituted or substituted benzyl group into the 2-amino group of the resulting O-protected DL-threo-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine, then N-methylating the resulting O-protected DL-threo-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl )-N-benzylserine, and removing the O-protecting groups as well as the unsubstituted or substituted benzyl group at the 2-methylamino group of the N-methylation product. L-Adrenalinecarboxylic acid may be produced by a new process comprising introducing a p-methoxybenzyloxycarbonyl group into the 2-amino group of the O-protected DL-threo-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine obtained as an intermediate product, optically resolving the resultant O-protected DL-threo-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-p-methoxybenzyloxycarbonyl-serine by reacting the latter with an optically active amine and recrystallizing the resultant amine salt products from a suitable organic solvent, removing the p-methoxy-benzyloxycarbonyl group from the resultant O-protected L-threo-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-p-methoxybenzyloxycarbonyl-serine, reacting the resultant O-protected L-threo-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine with dimethyl sulfate in dry acetone to form an O-protected L- or D-threo-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-N-methylserine methyl ester, saponifying this methyl ester and then removing the O-protecting groups from the saponification product.

Threo-adrenalinecarboxylic acid, and the production and uses thereof

L-aminoacylases S.sub.1 and S.sub.2 derived from actinomycetes and having physicochemical characteristics such that it is a L-aminoacylase which acts on a N-acyl-L-amino acid to give a L-amino acid, its substrate profile is wide, and it acts not only on a N-acyl derivative of a natural L-amino acid, but also on a N-acyl derivative of a synthetic L-amino acid, while it does not act on a N-acyl-D-amino acid, a DL-N-acetyl-.alpha.methylbenzylamine and a N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, etc.

L-aminoacylases

N-acyl-DL-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine or a catecholic hydroxyl-protected derivative thereof is stereospecifically de-acylated by reaction with a microorganism of the genus Streptomyces or Streptoverticillium having an acylase or with an extract of said microorganism containing said acylase, to produce L-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine or the hydroxyl-protected derivative thereof, with the N-acyl-D-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine compound remaining unaltered. The L-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine compound so produced can be separated from the N-acyl-D-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)serine compound owing to the difference in the properties of them.

Process for microbial production of an optically active

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Tokyo, Japan

Shuichi Iwadare