Esterification enzymatic

Despite its widespread application [31,32], the kinetic resolution has two major drawbacks (i) the maximum theoretical yield is 50% owing to the consumption of only one enantiomer, (ii) the separation of the product and the remaining starting material may be laborious. The separation is usually carried out by chromatography, which is inefficient on a large scale, and several alternative methods have been developed (Figure 6.2). For example, when a cyclic anhydride is the acyl donor in an esterification reaction, the water-soluble monoester monoacid is separable by extraction with an aqueous alkaline solution [33,34]. Also, fiuorous phase separation techniques have been combined with enzymatic kinetic resolutions [35]. To overcome the 50% yield limitation, one of the enantiomers may, in some cases, be racemized and resubmitted to the resolution procedure. 

Alkoxydehydroxylation - Enzymatic Esterification of Acids with Alcohols... 

By the enzymatic esterification of diglycerol with lauric acid, the corresponding monolaurate ester is obtained [84]. This is an important industrial reaction for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and feed industries, since this ester is used as biodegradable non-ionic surfactant. In recent years, the synthesis of this and other polyglycerols with fatty acids has attracted growing interest in industry, leading also to a demand for enantiomerically and isomerically pure products. 

Experimental procedure for the enzymatic esterification of oleic acid with... 

Since the imidazolide method proceeds almost quantitatively, it has been used for the synthesis of isotopically labeled esters (see also Section 3.2), and it is always useful for the esterification of sensitive carboxylic acids, alcohols, and phenols under mild conditions. This advantage has been utilized in biochemistry for the study of transacylating enzymes. A number of enzymatic transacylations (e.g., those catalyzed by oc-chymo-trypsin) have been shown to proceed in two steps an acyl group is first transferred from the substrate to the enzyme to form an acyl enzyme, which is then deacylated in a second step. In this context it has been shown[21] that oc-chymotrypsin is rapidly and quantitatively acylated by Af-fraw.s-cinnamoylimidazole to give /ra/w-cinnamoyl-a-chymotrypsin, which can be isolated in preparative quantities and retains its enzymatic activity (see also Chapter 6). 

Af-(ter -Butoxycarbonyl)-3-hydroxymethylpiperidine is a building block in the synthesis of a potent tryptase inhibitor. It is produced by stereospecific esterification of the racemic alcohol with succinic anhydride [30]. The enzymatic resolution is followed up by separation of... 

A strategy to access lactones via enzymatic hydrolysis of y- and /3-hydroxy aliphatic nitriles to their corresponding acids with subsequent internal esterification was applied using commercially available enzymes from BioCatalytics Inc. A number of y- and /3-hydroxy aliphatic nitrile substrates (Table 8.11) were evaluated, with the greatest selectivity observed with y-hydroxy nonanitrile, which was converted by nitrilase NIT1003 to the precursor of the rice weevil pheromone in 30% yield, 88% ee with an enatiomeric ratio of = 23 [90],... 

N-Hydroxy arylamines are also converted to N-acetoxy arylamines (V), but apparently by an acetyl coenzyme A-dependent enzymatic O-esterification (7, 8). Similarly, N-sulfonyloxy arylamines (VI) are thought to arise by a PAPS-dependent enzymatic O-sulfonylation of N-hydroxy arylamines (9,10) while 0-seryl or 0-prolyl esters (VII) are formed by their corresponding aminoacyl tRNA synthetases in a ATP-dependent reaction (11,12). 

Only a limited number of activation pathways appear to be available to N-methyl arylamines. Following enzymatic N-hydroxyla-tion to secondary N-hydroxy arylamines (21,22), these compounds are converted into reactive electrophiles through enzymatic esterification (9) to N-sulfonyloxy-N-methyl arylamines (XII) or by further oxidation to N-arylnitrones (XIII). 

H. Kise and H. Shirato, Enzymatic reactions in aqueous-organic media. V. Medium effect on the esterification of aromatic amino acids by a-chymotrypsin. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 10, 582-585 (1988). 

Monoglyceride (MG) is one of the most important emulsifiers in food and pharmaceutical industries [280], MG is industrially produced by trans-esterification of fats and oils at high temperature with alkaline catalyst. The synthesis of MG by hydrolysis or glycerolysis of triglyceride (TG) with immobilized lipase attracted attention recently, because it has mild reaction conditions and avoids formation of side products. Silica and celite are often used as immobilization carriers [281], But the immobilized lipase particles are difficult to reuse due to adsorption of glycerol on this carriers [282], PVA/chitosan composite membrane reactor can be used for enzymatic processing of fats and oils. The immobilized activity of lipase was 2.64 IU/cm2 with a recovery of 24%. The membrane reactor was used in a two-phase system reaction to synthesize monoglyceride (MG) by hydrolysis of palm oil, which was reused for at least nine batches with yield of 32-50%. 

Fatty acid esters of sugars are also very important biodegradable and biocompatible surfactants that are prepared either by transesterification of methyl ester with sugar on basic catalysts or by esterification of fatty acids with sugar on acidic catalysts. Liquid acids and bases have been replaced by enzymatic catalysis with lipase, giving a higher yield of monoester [43, 44], but solid catalysts have not been used extensively so far. 

It is also necessary to develop enzymatic trans-esterification processes that may find applications for waste material such as rape seed oil cake and for glycerol (propanediol, GTBE). 

The esterification of acetic acid with ethanol using sulfonic ion-exchange resins as catalyst/selective sorbent was studied by Mazzotti et al. [164]. The authors developed a detailed mathematical model, which was able to predict correctly the system s behavior. They succeeded in obtaining 100% conversion of acetic acid in addition to a complete separation. Several other studies involving enzymatic reactions were also carried out and will be presented in more detail in the next section. 

A few publications dealing with enzymatic conversion using lipases in a chromatographic reactor appeared in the recently literature. Mensah et al. [178] studied the enzymatic esterification of propionic acid and isoamyl alcohol (dissolved in hexane) to produce isoamyl propionate according to the following scheme ... 

The second reaction studied using lipase as catalyst was the reversible re-gioselective esterification of propionic acid and 2-ethyl- 1,3-hexanediol [180]. While the previously described reaction was almost irreversible, this reaction is equilibrium limited with an apparent equilibrium constant of 0.6 0.1. In addition, the accumulated water inhibits the enzyme. Therefore, only the removal of the water from the reaction zone assures high enzymatic activity as well as drives the reaction beyond thermodynamic equilibrium. Experiments with two... 

The transesterification of cocaine to cocaethylene is an enzymatic reaction catalyzed by microsomal carboxylesterases and blocked by inhibitors of serine hydrolases [124][125], In Chapt. 3, we have discussed the mechanism of serine hydrolases, showing how a H20 molecule enters the catalytic cycle to hydrolyze the acylated serine residue in the active site of the enzyme. In the case of cocaine, the acyl group is the benzoylecgoninyl moiety (Fig. 7.9,d ), which undergoes esterification with ethanol according to Steps e and/ (Fig. 7.9). 

The case of aspirin in Table 8.3 is of special interest. Indeed, its acetyl ester group is particularly labile to enzymatic and nonenzymatic hydrolysis (see Sect. 7.4), and the reaction is even faster when the carboxy group is neutralized by esterification. A true ester prodrug of acetylsalicylic acid must fulfill the condition that its hydrolysis liberates aspirin rather than a prodrug of salicylic acid. An investigation of several aspirin prodrugs confirmed the interest of carbamoylmethyl esters and showed the (ATV-diethylcarbamoyl)methyl ester (Table 8.3) to liberate the highest proportion (ca. 60%) of aspirin [37], In... 

Similarly, chemical hydrolysis of a number of a-amino acyl prodrugs of metronidazole (8.100, R=H see Sect. 8.5.4) was compared to the serum-catalyzed reaction [135][136]. The amino acids used for esterification included alanine, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, and valine. Under physiological conditions of pH and temperature, ty2 values for hydrolysis in human serum ranged from 4.5 min for the Phe ester to 96 h for the lie ester. A good linear relationship was established between the log of the rate constant of enzymatic hydrolysis and the log of the rate constant of HO-cata-... 

Despite the apparent simplicity of their molecular structure, the metabolism of these agents is chemically so complex, and their routes of bioactivation and inactivation so intimately intertwined, that a detailed and coherent picture of their behavior in the body is not available. The presentation to follow considers first their in vivo de-esterification, and only then the nonen-zymatic and enzymatic mechanisms postulated to be involved. 

Both anandamide and 2-AG are inactivated by enzymatic hydrolysis (Goparaju et al. 1998). Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is an enzyme that catalyses their hydrolysis. High concentrations of FAAH were found in the cerebellum, hippocampus and neocortex of rat brain, which are also rich in cannabinoid receptors. Further, there is a complementary pattern of distribution of FAAH and the CBl receptor. For example, in the cerebellum, FAAH is found in the cell bodies of Purkinje cells and the CBl receptor is found in the axons of granule cells and basket cells, which are presynaptic to Purkinje cells. 2-AG may also be inactivated by direct esterification into membrane phospholipids. Cannabinoid Receptors... 

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