This lecture is associated with the award of the ACS Creative Award in Fluorine Chemistry for 2012. It is an overview lecture which will describe the research leading to the identification of a fluorination enzyme (fluorinase) from the bacterium Streptomyces cattleya. The enzyme was isolated in 2002 from S. cattleya, an organism which can unusually biosynthesise fluorometabolites, and the enzyme has been the subject of structural, mechanism and genetic studies. The biosynthetic pathway to the fluorometabolite pathway has been elucidated, and the enzymes identified. The gene for the fluorinase enzyme has been engineered into another organism to generate novel fluorinated metabolites. Applications of the isolated enzyme will be described where it has been used in coupled biotransformations as a catalyst in synthesis applied to positron emission tomography (PET) for the incorporation of fluoride-18 into sugars and nucleosides. Prospects for the future will be outlined.

Award Address   (ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry sponsored by Honeywell). Discovery, isolation, and applications of a fluorination enzyme

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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