Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) mediated green, efficient and facile synthesis of oximes under bio-catalytical condition

This study offers a novel, environmentally friendly technique for the synthesis of oximes, (QUOX1-22) using ethanol as a green solvent and baker’s yeast (BY) (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a biocatalyst. Under ambient conditions, a number of aromatic aldehydes and ketones containing both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituent’s were effectively transformed into their corresponding oximes in the moderate to excellent yields. Interestingly, the present reaction does not require the toxic reagents, acidic or basic catalysts or external heating. Moreover, in the present conditions, the sensitive functional groups like nitro and cyano groups were unaffected. Furthermore, the reaction did not proceed in aprotic solvents or without BY, confirming the essentiality of the biocatalyst and the use of ethanol for this transformation. It is to conclude that the present method is a green synthetic method, which can be easily scalable, affordable, reproducible, and experimentally feasible and provides a selective and sustainable green pathway for the formation of oximes, which have potential uses in medicinal and natural product chemistry.