Microbial transformation of racemic hydantoins to <scp>D</scp>‐amino acids

Abstract It has been shown that resting cells of Agrobacterium radiobacter catalyze a sequence of two stereospecific hydrolytic reactions leading to the complete transformation of racemic hydantoins to D ‐amino acids. This report describes some properties of this new biocatalyst and its potential application for the production of some D ‐amino acids, which are used as intermediates in the preparation of semisynthetic penicillin and cephalosporins.