Recent progress on discovery and research of aldoxime dehydratases

Abstract Since Asano and Kato first reported in 1998 an aldoxime dehydratase from Bacillus sp. strain OxB-1 catalyzes the degradation of aldoximes to their corresponding nitriles, six aldoxime dehydratases have been isolated and characterized by this group. The potential applications of these enzymes in organic synthesis represent promising green methods for the preparation of pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. This review focuses on recent progress made in studies of these selected six aldoxime dehydratases.