The Journal of Organic Chemistry

Lipase-catalyzed preparation of optically active. gamma.-butyrolactones in organic solvents

AL Gutman, K Zuobi, T Bravdo

Index: Gutman, Arie L.; Zuobi, Kheir; Bravdo, Tamar Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1990 , vol. 55, # 11 p. 3546 - 3552

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Citation Number: 100

Abstract

Lipases in anhydrous organic solvents catalyze the lactonization of esters of y-hydroxy carboxylic acids with a high degree of stereospecificity. Under these conditions the lipases exhibit both enantioselectivity and prochiral selectivity. We exploited the enzymes' enantioselectivity for synthesis of chiral lactones from racemic y-hydroxy esters and their prochiral stereospecificity, ie the ability to discriminate between enantiotopic groups of a ...