| Abstract
| - (5R)-Carbapenem-3-carboxylic acid is the simplest structurally among the naturally occurring carbapenem β-lactam antibiotics. It is the produced from (3S,5S)-carbapenam-3-carboxylic acid utilizing a remarkable stereoinversion/desaturation process by CarC (carbapenem synthase), an α-ketoglutarate dependent non-heme iron oxygenase. In this communication, we demonstrate for the first time that the epimeric (3S,5R)-carbapenam-3-carboxylic acid is an intermediate in the overall catalytic cycle to the carbapenem antibiotic. The role of α-ketoglutarate in the stereoinversion and desaturation processes is also examined.
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