This invention provides hexamethylenediamine muconate salt. This novel salt can be produced by bioconversion of toluene to muconic acid in the presence of hexamethylenediamine. Hydrogenation of this salt provides hexamethylenediamine adipate salt.

This invention provides a semi-continuous fermentation process which is operated in a repeated fed-batch mode to maintain cell bioconversion productivity at a high level without product inhibition of enzymatic activity. The process is illustrated by the bioconversion of toluene or catechol via the ortho pathway to muconic acid which accumulates in the fermentation medium in a quantity up to about 50 grams per liter.

Cyclic imides are inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor .alpha. and can be used to combat cachexia, endotoxic shock, and retrovirus replication. A typical embodiment is 2-(2,6-dioxo-3-piperidinyl)-4-azaisoindoline-1,3-dione.

This invention provides novel strains of microorganisms (e.g., Pseudomonas putida Biotype A) which are capable of converting substrates such as toluene or catechol to muconic acid quantitatively by the ortho (catechol 1,2-oxygenase) pathway. Muconate lactonizing enzyme is not induced in the microorganism, thereby permitting the muconic acid to be produced and accumulated in a quantity greater than one gram of muconic acid per liter of bioconversion medium.

This invention provides a process for producing nylon 6,6 salt which involves bioconversion of toluene to muconic acid in the presence of hexamethylenediamine to yield hexamethylenediamine muconate salt. Hydrogenation of this salt provides an aqueous solution of the desired hexamethylenediamine adipate salt.

Amines in which the amino group is on a secondary carbon atom which is chirally substituted can be enantiomerically enriched by the action of an omega-amino acid transaminase which has the property of preferentially converting one of the two chiral forms to a ketone. The process can be used to stereoselectively sythesize one chiral form from ketones substantially to the exclusion of the other. An aqueous solution of chiral amines after being brought into contact with an omega-amino acid transami...

Pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylic acids are prepared by the action of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate-3,4-dioxygenase on 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acids in a liquid medium which lacks active decarboxylase and which has a pH from 4 to 9, an ionic strength below about 1 molar, and a low concentration of metal cations and complex anions. In close temporal proximity, the 2-hydroxy-3-carboxymuconic acid semialdehyde which forms is allowed to react with a source of ammonia or a primary amine, avoiding substantial decarboxyl...

Amines in which the amino group is on a secondary carbon atom which is chirally substituted can be enantiomerically enriched by the action of an omega-amino acid transaminase which has the property of preferentially converting one of the two chiral forms to a ketone. The process also can be used to stereoselectively synthesize one chiral form from ketones substantially to the exclusion of the other.

L-Alanyl-L-proline is stereoselectively prepared catalytically hydrogenating an N-(2-iminopropionyl)-L-proline in the presence of a metal hydrogenolysis catalyst and at a pH of less than about 4. Also disclosed are improved processes for production of pyruvylproline in which L-proline and a 2,2-disubstituted propionyl halide are allowed to react at a pH of at least 9 to produce an L-proline intermediate which is hydrolyzed at a pH range of from about 6.5 to about 8.5 to yield N-pyruvyl-L-proline...

This invention provides a continuous bioconversion process in which a non-growth toluene substrate is bio-oxidized by a specific microbe mutant strain to accumulated extracellular muconic acid at a bioreactor production rate of at least about 5 grams of muconic acid per liter of fermentation medium per hour. Essential features of the invention process include a continuous feed of whole cell-containing fermentation broth from an auxiliary cell growth and enzyme induction fermentation zone into th...