Selectivity of Plant and Microbial Mediated Reduction of Ketones

Bioreduction of ketones is an alternative tool for the synthesis of enantiomeric alcohols. Biocatalytic reduction of acetophenone and its derivatives have been widely reported. Some of the microorganisms obtained from culture collection centre as well as those isolated in our microbiology lab and few plant tissues obtained from local market were screened for their potential and performance in reduction of p-chloroacetophenone and dimethoxy indanone. The parameters such as pH, temperature, substrate concentration and incubation time were evaluated during optimization. Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus ocraceae showed significant bioconversion. Aspergillus flavus showed maximum ability of bioreduction, it was considered for optimization. Among the screened plant tissues, used for the reduction p-chloroacetophenone, radish showed significant bioconversion. The maximum reduction was observed with Onion and the least with Beetroot.