Enantioselective Synthesis of N‐Substituted Aspartic Acids Using an Engineered Variant of Methylaspartate Ammonia Lyase

Unnatural reactions: We report the synthesis of a large variety of N-substituted aspartic acids by addition of structurally diverse amines to fumaric acid; the reactions are catalyzed by a previously engineered variant of methylaspartate ammonia lyase. The additions are highly enantioselective and yield only the L enantiomers of the corresponding amino acid products (>99 % ee).