New dehydrogenase, methods of making derivatives and optically active alkanol

The present invention is 3-methyl-1- (2-thienyl) - a protein having an enzymatic activity for reducing substituted alkanones such as propan-1-one. The present invention further provides nucleic acids encoding the proteins, nucleic acid constructs, vectors, genetically modified microorganisms, and optically active substituted alkanols, such as (S)-3-methyl-1- (2-thienyl) - ( S) - process for the preparation of propanol.