Stereoselective oxidation of sulfides to optically active sulfoxides with resting cells of Pseudomonas monteilii CCTCC M2013683

• A whole cell biocatalyst was successfully applied for directly oxidation of sulfides.
• Pseudomonas monteilii CCTCC M2013683 exhibited high activity and substrate tolerance.
• No by-products were formed in this bioxidation process.

In this paper, the ability of Pseudomonas monteilii to selectively oxidize aryl sulfides has been investigated. Especially, a toluene-degrading strain, P. monteilii (CCTCC M2013683), was isolated form soil samples that exhibit excellent activity, stereoselectivity and high substrate tolerance to perform oxidation of organic sulfides. Several biotransformation parameters such as the employment of substrate concentration, cell density, reaction temperature, pH value and cosolvent system resulted crucial in the optimization of the processes. Under optimal reaction parameters, whole-cells catalyzed the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to chiral sulfoxides (R)-2a–2e with 54–99% yields in 63–99% enantiomeric excess (ee), respectively.

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