Esters from kinetic resolution

The total synthesis of pentacyclic alkaloid (-)-haliclonadiamine was accomplished by D.F. Taber and co-workers. The Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation was used to prepare a bicyclic 3-hydroxy ester intermediate in enantiopure form from a racemic bicyclic P-keto ester via kinetic resolution. It was found that the hydrogenation only took place in the presence of added HCI and by optimizing the amount of HCI added, the proportion of the total reduced ketone could be controlled. About 87% of the "matched" ketone was reduced, while the other P-keto ester enantiomer was not significantly converted to the reduced product. Interestingly, the diastereoselectivity of the hydrogenation depended on the nature of the added acid with HCI, the trans diastereomer was the major product, while with AcOH the cis diastereomer was dominant. 

Profens are an important group of NSAIDs. The biological activity of these drugs resides exclusively in the (S)-enantiomer, so considerable effort has been invested in developing efficient routes for their preparation. For instance, (S)-naproxen has been prepared via recrystallization of diastereomeric mixtures. The carboxylesterase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of R/S)-naproxen methyl ester achieves excellent optical purity of the product. Nevertheless, the AMDase-catalyzed as5unmetrizahon of prochiral a-aryl-a-methylmalonates gives rise to a 100% theoretical 5deld of profens, a clear improvement from kinetic resolution (50%). Unfortunately, wild-type AMDase produces only the undesirable (R)-enantiomers. 

In this case study, an enzymatic hydrolysis reaction, the racemic ibuprofen ester, i.e. (R)-and (S)-ibuprofen esters in equimolar mixture, undergoes a kinetic resolution in a biphasic enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR). In kinetic resolution, the two enantiomers react at different rates lipase originated from Candida rugosa shows a greater stereopreference towards the (S)-enantiomer. The membrane module consisted of multiple bundles of polymeric hydrophilic hollow fibre. The membrane separated the two immiscible phases, i.e. organic in the shell side and aqueous in the lumen. Racemic substrate in the organic phase reacted with immobilised enzyme on the membrane where the hydrolysis reaction took place, and the product (S)-ibuprofen acid was extracted into the aqueous phase. 

The preparation of enantiomerically enriched a-ketosulphoxides 272 was also based on a kinetic resolution involving the reaction of the carbanion 273 derived from racemic aryl methyl sulphoxides with a deficiency of optically active carboxylic esters 274334, (equation 151). The degree of stereoselectivity in this reaction is strongly dependent on the nature of both the group R and the chiral residue R in 274. Thus, the a-ketosulphoxide formed in the reaction with menthyl esters had an optical yield of 1.3% for R = Et. In the... 

Enzyme-mediated hydrolysis of some racemic co-arenesulfinylalkanoic methyl esters, ArSO(CH2) COOMe, using Corynebacterium equi has led to a kinetic resolution in which the unreacted sulfinyl esters are enriched in one enantiomer at the sulfoxide center49. The enantiomeric purity of unreacted sulfinyl acetates and propionate ranges from 90 to 97%. 

Figure 2.9 Schematic summary of the directed evolution of enantioselective lipase variants originating from the WT PAL used as catalysts in the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of ester rac-1. CMCM = Combinatorial multiple-cassette mutagenesis [8c,22],...

Efforts were also made to invert the sense of enantioselectivity in the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of ester (1) using PAL with preferential formation of (R)-2 [40,411-Using epPCR and DNA shuffling, an (R)-selective mutant showing an E value of 30 was evolved by screening about 45 000 clones for the (R) enantiomer. The best mutant is characterized by 11 mutations, which are different from those of the best (S)-selective variant X [41]. 

Esterases have a catalytic function and mechanism similar to those of lipases, but some structural aspects and the nature of substrates differ [4]. One can expect that the lessons learned from the directed evolution of lipases also apply to esterases. However, few efforts have been made in the directed evolution of enantioselective esterases, although previous work by Arnold had shown that the activity of esterases as catalysts in the hydrolysis of achiral esters can be enhanced [49]. An example regarding enantioselectivity involves the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of racemic esters catalyzed by Pseudomonasfluorescens esterase (PFE) [50]. Using a mutator strain and by screening very small libraries, low improvement in enantioselectivity was... 

Other biocatalysts were also used to perform the dynamic kinetic resolution through reduction. For example, Thermoanaerobium brockii reduced the aldehyde with a moderate enantioselectivity [30b,c], and Candida humicola was found, as a result of screening from 107 microorganisms, to give the (Jl)-alcohol with 98.2% ee when ester group was methyl [30dj. 

Stereoinversion Stereoinversion can be achieved either using a chemoenzymatic approach or a purely biocatalytic method. As an example of the former case, deracemization of secondary alcohols via enzymatic hydrolysis of their acetates may be mentioned. Thus, after the first step, kinetic resolution of a racemate, the enantiomeric alcohol resulting from hydrolysis of the fast reacting enantiomer of the substrate is chemically transformed into an activated ester, for example, by mesylation. The mixture of both esters is then subjected to basic hydrolysis. Each hydrolysis proceeds with different stereochemistry - the acetate is hydrolyzed with retention of configuration due to the attack of the hydroxy anion on the carbonyl carbon, and the mesylate - with inversion as a result of the attack of the hydroxy anion on the stereogenic carbon atom. As a result, a single enantiomer of the secondary alcohol is obtained (Scheme 5.12) [8, 50a]. 

Phosphotriesterase from P. diminuta (PTE) was found to exhibit high hydrolytic activity towards various types of tetracoordinated phosphorus acid esters. Apart from the phosphonothionate 92, phosphoric acid triesters 94 (Equation 45), °" benzenephosphonic acid diester 95 (Equation 46) ° and methyl-phenylphosphinic acid ester 96 (Equation 47) were also stereoselectively hydrolysed under kinetic resolution conditions. Of course, in the case of the latter three kinds of substrates, half of the reacting ester was irreversibly lost due to the formation of achiral phosphorus acids. 

Historically, the thermal transesterification of (-)-ethyl p-toluene-sulfinate 224 with n-butanol affording (+)-n-butyl p-toluenesulfinate 225 described by Phillips in 1925 (100) is the first nucleophilic substitution reaction at chiral sulfur involving a Walden-type inversion. The evidence for inversion of configuration in this reaction was based on the assumption that both (-)-esters 224 and 225 obtained from the kinetic resolution have the same configuration. 

The one-pot dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of ( )-l-phenylethanol lipase esterification in the presence of zeolite beta followed by saponification leads to (R)-l phenylethanol in 70 % isolated yield at a multi-gram scale. The DKR consists of two parallel reactions kinetic resolution by transesterification with an immobilized biocatalyst (lipase B from Candida antarctica) and in situ racemization over a zeolite beta (Si/Al = 150). With vinyl octanoate as the acyl donor, the desired ester of (R)-l-phenylethanol was obtained with a yield of 80 % and an ee of 98 %. The chiral secondary alcohol can be regenerated from the ester without loss of optical purity. The advantages of this method are that it uses a single liquid phase and both catalysts are solids which can be easily removed by filtration. This makes the method suitable for scale-up. The examples given here describe the multi-gram synthesis of (R)-l-phenylethyl octanoate and the hydrolysis of the ester to obtain pure (R)-l-phenylethanol. 

The procedure shows that it is feasible to combine racemization with the kinetic resolution process (hence the DKR) of R,S)- ethoxyethyl ibuprofen ester. The chemical synthesis of the ester can be applied to any esters, as it is a common procedure. The immobilized lipase preparation procedure can also be used with any enzymes or support of choice. However, the enzyme loading will need to be optimized first. The procedures for the enzymatic kinetic resolution and DKR will need to be adjusted accordingly with different esters. Through this method, the enantiopurity of (5)-ibuprofen was found to be 99.4 % and the conversion was 85 %. It was demonstrated through our work that the synthesis of (5)-ibuprofen via DKR is highly dependent on the suitability of the reaction medium between enzymatic kinetic resolution and the racemization process. This is because the compatibility between both processes is crucial for the success of the DKR. The choice of base catalyst will vary from one reaction to another, but the basic procedures used in this work can be applied. DKRs of other profens have been reported by Lin and Tsai and Chen et al. ... 

Catalysts lacking phosphorus ligands have also been used as catalysts for allylic substitutions. [lr(COD)Cl]2 itself, which contains a 7i-accepting diolefin ligand, catalyzes the alkylation of allylic acetates, but the formation of branched products was only favored when the substitution reaction was performed with branched allylic esters. Takemoto and coworkers later reported the etherification of branched allylic acetates and carbonates with oximes catalyzed by [lr(COD)Cl]2 without added ligand [47]. Finally, as discussed in Sect. 6, Carreira reported kinetic resolutions of branched allylic carbonates from reactions of phenol catalyzed by the combination of [lr(COE)2Cl]2 and a chiral diene ligand [48]. 

The above-mentioned facts have important consequences on the stereochemical outcome of the kinetic resolution of asymmetrically substituted epoxides. In the majority of kinetic resolutions of esters (e.g. by ester hydrolysis and synthesis using lipases, esterases and proteases) the absolute configuration at the stereogenic centre(s) always remains the same throughout the reaction. In contrast, the enzymatic hydrolysis of epoxides may take place via attack on either carbon of the oxirane ring (Scheme 7) and it is the structure of the substrate and of the enzyme involved which determine the regioselec-tivity of the attack [53, 58-611. As a consequence, the absolute configuration of both the product and substrate from a kinetic resolution of a racemic... 

Both enantiomers of the oximes 353, R = (CH2)2CH=CH2, n = 1, 2 could be obtained in a pure form by lipase-catalysed kinetic resolution of its racemic oxime esters. Applying the previous sequence, both isomers of compounds 354 could be easily obtained. The synthesis of the framework of Histrionicotoxin 356 was obtained from 355 and is shown in equation 136. ... 

The first high-throughput ee assay used in the directed evolution of enantioselective enzymes was based on UV/Vis spectroscopy (16,74). It is a crude but useful screening system that is restricted to the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of racemic / -nitrophenyl esters catalyzed by lipases or esterases. The development of this assay arose from the desire to evolve highly enantioselective mutants of the lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa as potential biocatalysts in the hydrolytic kinetic resolution of the chiral ester rac-. The wild type leads to an E value of only 1.1 in slight... 

A typical example that illustrates the method concerns the lipase- or esterase-catalyzed hydrolytic kinetic resolution of rac-1-phenyl ethyl acetate, derived from rac-1-phenyl ethanol (20). However, the acetate of any chiral alcohol or the acetamide of any chiral amine can be used. A 1 1 mixture of labeled and non-labeled compounds (S)- C-19 and (f )-19 is prepared, which simulates a racemate. It is used in the actual catalytic hydrolytic kinetic resolution, which affords a mixture of true enantiomers (5)-20 and (J )-20 as well as labeled and non-labeled acetic acid C-21 and 21, respectively, together with non-reacted starting esters 19. At 50% conversion (or at any other point of the kinetic resolution), the ratio of (5)- C-19 to (1 )-19 correlates with the enantiomeric purity of the non-reacted ester, and the ratio of C-21 to 21 reveals the relative amounts of (5)-20 and (J )-20 (98). 

However, these limitations do not reduce the value of the basic research conducted with this particular lipase. As a model substrate the chiral ester 1 was chosen. Kinetic resolution of 1 using the WT lipase from P. aeruginosa as the catalyst shows a very low selectivity factor E— 1.1 in slight favor of (5)-2. 

Scheme 6.91 Typical enantioenriched (R)-oxazinones and (S)-configured N-benzoyl-protected 5-amino acid allyl esters obtained from the 78-catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic oxazinone mixtures subsequent isolation of the ester through (R)-oxazinone hydrolysis.

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