Sodium Hydroxide → 4-Methyl-2-oxovaleric acid

Participants

Reaction Steps

A 500 ml Erlenmeyer flask provided with a baffle and containing 90 ml of medium A was inoculated with Bacillus freudenreichii NRS-137KH20B (FERM-P No. 3169, ATCC 31301) from a slant culture. The incubation was carried out for 24 hours under the conditions described in Example 1. Thereafter, 3.17 g of sodium DL-2-hydroxy-4-methylvalerate were added and the fermentation was continued for 82 hours. The substrate remaining in the fermentation broth contained 15.2 mg/ml of free L-hydroxyacid (optical purity: 100%). The thus-obtained fermentation broth was then treated in an analogous manner to that described in Example 1 and there were obtained 1.18 g of crystalline L-2-hydroxy-4-methylvaleric acid of melting point 79.1° C. [[α]D25 =-26.8° (c=2 in 1-N sodium hydroxide)] and 0.7 g of 4-methyl-2-oxovaleric acid of boiling point 65°-75° C./10 mmHg.

Provenance & Evidence