Kinetic enantiomer separation

Lipases may also be most advantageously applied for kinetic enantiomer separation of racemic alcohols either through esterification in organic media or by hydrolysis of the corresponding acetates in water90 1161. 

Horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH (E.C. 1.1.1.1), commercially available) is a well-documented enzyme capable of catalyzing the enantioselective oxidation of acyclic and cyclic meso-configurated dimethanol derivatives to chiral lactols and further to the corresponding chiral lactones with high enantioselectivity and in high yield (Table 11) 162 ,69. Incases where the two enantiomeric lactols are formed, a kinetic enantiomer separation can occur in the second oxidation step166. 

Lipases are the hydrolases of choice for the kinetic enantiomer separation of racemic primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols through acylation. Acylation of the racemic alcohols is complementary to the hydrolysis or alcoholysis of the corresponding esters. 

In addition to Rh-catalysed hydroformylation, this special phase behaviour has been successfully applied to other continuous catalytic reactions - such as Ni-catalysed, enantioselective hydrovinylation [66] and the lipase-catalysed kinetic resolution and enantiomer separation of chiral alcohols [67]. 

The broad and nearly universal applicability of the cinchonan carbamate CSPs for chiral acid separations is further corroborated by successful enantiomer separations of acidic solutes having axial and planar chirality, respectively. For example, Tobler et al. [124] could separate the enantiomers of atropisomeric axially chiral 2 -dodecyloxy-6-nitrobiphenyl-2-carboxylic acid on an C-9-(tert-butylcarbamoyl)quinine-based CSP in the PO mode with a-value of 1.8 and Rs of 9.1. This compound is stereolabile and hence at elevated temperatures the two enantiomers were interconverted during the separation process on-column revealing characteristic plateau regions between the separated enantiomer peaks. A stopped-flow method was utilized to determine the kinetic rate constants and apparent rotational energy barriers for the interconversion process in the presence of the CSP. Apparent activation energies (i.e., energy barriers for interconversion) were found to be 93.0 and 94.6 kJ mol for the (-)- and (-l-)-enantiomers, respectively. 

The integration of a catalyzed kinetic enantiomer resolution and concurrent racemization is known as a dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR). This asymmetric transformation can provide a theoretical 100% yield without any requirement for enantiomer separation. Enzymes have been used most commonly as the resolving catalysts and precious metals as the racemizing catalysts. Most examples involve racemic secondary alcohols, but an increasing number of chiral amine enzyme DKRs are being reported. Reetz, in 1996, first reported the DKR of rac-2-methylbenzylamine using Candida antarctica lipase B and vinyl acetate with palladium on carbon as the racemization catalyst [20]. The reaction was carried out at 50°C over 8 days to give the (S)-amide in 99% ee and 64% yield. Rather surpris-... 

Reetz, M.T., W. Wiesenhofer, G. Francio and W. Leitner, Continuous Flow Enzymatic Kinetic Resolution and Enantiomer Separation Using Ionic Liquid/Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Media, Advanced Synthesis Catalysis, 345, 1221-1228 (2003). 

Reetz MT, Wiesenhofer W, Francio G et al (2003) Continuous flow enzymatic kinetic resolution and enantiomer separation using ionic Uquid/supercritical carbon dioxide media. Adv Synth Catal 345 1221-1228... 

Kinetic resolution Separation of enantiomers based on their unequal rates of reaction with a chiral reactant. 

It should be recognized that enantiomer separation by chromatography is caused by the difference in the Gibbs energy —Ar A( ) of the diastereo-meric association equilibrium between chiral selector and solute and is thus thermodynamic in nature. It should be pointed out that fast kinetics is required. 

Sharpless epoxidations can also be used to separate enantiomers of chiral allylic alcohols by kinetic resolution (V.S. Martin, 1981 K.B. Sharpless, 1983 B). In this procedure the epoxidation of the allylic alcohol is stopped at 50% conversion, and the desired alcohol is either enriched in the epoxide fraction or in the non-reacted allylic alcohol fraction. Examples are given in section 4.8.3. 

Another means of resolution depends on the difference in rates of reaction of two enantiomers with a chiral reagent. The transition-state energies for reaction of each enantiomer with one enantiomer of a chiral reagent will be different. This is because the transition states and intermediates (f -substrate... f -reactant) and (5-substrate... R-reactant) are diastereomeric. Kinetic resolution is the term used to describe the separation of enantiomers based on different reaction rates with an enantiomerically pure reagent. 

A noteworthy feature of the Sharpless Asymmetric Epoxidation (SAE) is that kinetic resolution of racemic mixtures of chiral secondary allylic alcohols can be achieved, because the chiral catalyst reacts much faster with one enantiomer than with the other. A mixture of resolved product and resolved starting material results which can usually be separated chromatographically. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not yet fully understood, the AD is much less effective at kinetic resolution than the SAE. 

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. 

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. 

Kinetic Resolution. Since enantiomers react with chiral compounds at different rates, it is sometimes possible to effect a partial separation by... 

The first resolution of an octahedral complex into its enantiomers was achieved in 1911 by A. Werner, who got the Nobel Prize in 1913, with the complex [Co(ethylenediamine)(Cl)(NH3)] [10]. Obviously, resolution is to be considered only in the case of kinetically inert complexes whose enantiomers do not racemize quickly after separation. This is a very important remark since, as noted above, the interesting complexes are those containing exchangeable sites required for catalytic activity and thus more sensitive to racemization. We will not discuss here the very rare cases of spontaneous resolution during which a racemic mixture of complexes forms a conglomerate (the A and A enantiomers crystallize in separate crystals) [11,12]. 

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