{
  "abstract": "As a pivotal chiral precursor for the synthesis of the antituberculosis drug ethambutol and antiepileptic drugs such as levetiracetam, Chiral (S)-2-aminobutanol requires high optical purity for clinical safety. This review systematically summarizes the evolution and recent advances in its synthetic routes. Traditional chemical methods, including the 1-nitropropane and 1-butene epoxidation routes, suffer from severe safety hazards and heavily rely on downstream chiral resolution. However, both chemical crystallization and enzymatic kinetic resolution are constrained by a 50% theoretical yield ceiling and incur heavy environmental burdens. To break this bottleneck, in vitro multienzyme cascades utilizing amine dehydrogenases (AmDHs) and ω-transaminases (ω-TAs) have emerged, achieving 100% theoretical yield from prochiral precursors and >99% enantiomeric excess (ee) driven by a distinct dual-pocket active site model. Furthermore, synthetic biology has enabled de novo biosynthesis via whole-cell cell factories. It should be noted that the recently reported 45.3 g·L−1 titer refers to the upstream amino acid precursor L-2-aminobutyric acid (L-2-ABA), not to the final (S)-2-aminobutanol product. To overcome bottlenecks like the intracellular toxicity of the intermediate 2-ketobutyrate (2-OBA), strategies including efflux pump engineering (e.g., rhtA) and quorum sensing-based dynamic regulation have successfully boosted the fermentation titer to 45.3 g·L−1. Finally, the industrialization potential of these generations of technologies is evaluated, highlighting that the transition toward in vitro continuous-flow microreactors and a hybrid whole-cell + cell-free architecture, combined with the integration of AI into whole-cell factories, represents a future trend for green and low-carbon manufacturing.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan 467000, China",
    "School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710048, China",
    "The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "review article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Bing-Bing Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chang-Dong Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yong-Jun Han"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Wei-Shuang Tong"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hua-Shan Gao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Wei Ma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jun-Yang Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jian-Zhong Xu",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0750-6875"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eh23vtbh7795j.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/ijms27209203",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13705519/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "eh23vtbh7795j",
  "issns": [
    "1422-0067"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9203",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222481007",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13705519/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13705519",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eh23vtbh7795j.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:57Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/ijms27209203",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9203"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:34Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13705519",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13705519"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Evolution of (S)-2-Aminobutanol Synthesis from Chemical Resolution to Biomanufacturing",
  "title_text": "Evolution of (S)-2-Aminobutanol Synthesis from Chemical Resolution to Biomanufacturing",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:34Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eh23vtbh7795j",
  "venue": "International Journal of Molecular Sciences",
  "versions": []
}