Enantioselective monoterpene alcohol acetylation in Origanum, Mentha and Salvia species

Selected plants within the Origanum, Mentha and Salvia genera, that contain significant amounts of chiral volatile alcohols and their related acetates, exhibit remarkable enantiospecificity of alcohol acetyl transferase (AAT) activity and particularly can discriminate between linalool enantiomers. Origanum dayi AAT produced enantiomerically pure (R)-linalyl acetate by enzymatic acetylation of racemic linalool whereas the closely related O. majorana AAT produced a mixture of (R)- and (S)-linalyl acetate. Vmax of O. dayi acetylation activity was 30-fold higher for (R)-linalool, while in O. majorana no such differences were found.