Racemization General Subject

Resolution of Racemic Amines and Amino Acids. Acylases (EC3.5.1.14) are the most commonly used enzymes for the resolution of amino acids. Porcine kidney acylase (PKA) and the fungaly3.spet i//us acylase (AA) are commercially available, inexpensive, and stable. They have broad substrate specificity and hydrolyze a wide spectmm of natural and unnatural A/-acyl amino acids, with exceptionally high enantioselectivity in almost all cases. Moreover, theU enantioselectivity is exceptionally good with most substrates. A general paper on this subject has been pubUshed (106) in which the resolution of over 50 A/-acyl amino acids and analogues is described. Also reported are the stabiUties of the enzymes and the effect of different acyl groups on the rate and selectivity of enzymatic hydrolysis. Some of the substrates that are easily resolved on 10—100 g scale are presented in Figure 4 (106). Lipases are also used for the resolution of A/-acylated amino acids but the rates and optical purities are usually low (107). 

Some limitations of the subject surveyed have been necessary in order to keep the size of the chapter within the reasonable bounds. Accordingly, to make it not too long and readable, the discussion of the methods of the sulphoxide synthesis will be divided into three parts. In the first part, all the general methods of the synthesis of sulphoxides will be briefly presented. In the second one, methods for the preparation of optically active sulphoxides will be discussed. The last part will include the synthetic procedures leading to functionalized sulphoxides starting from simple dialkyl or arylalkyl sulphoxides. In this part, however, the synthesis of achiral, racemic and optically active sulphoxides will be treated together. Each section and subsection includes, where possible, some considerations of mechanistic aspects as well as short comments on the scope and limitations of the particular reaction under discussion. 

The subject of asymmetric synthesis generally (214, 215) gained new momentum with the potential use of transition metal complexes as catalysts. The use of a complex with chiral ligands to catalyze a synthesis asymmetrically from a prochiral substrate is advantageous in that resolution of a normally obtained racemate product may be avoided, for example,... 

The reaction conditions are mild and generally tolerant of epimerizable stereocenters. For instance, the use of (5)-ethyl lactate 181 under the reaction conditions produces desired ester 182 in 94% ee Eq. 17a. The subjection of racemic ethyl lactate 181 to standard reaction conditions with chiral pre-catalyst 183 provides ester 182 in 32% ee Eq. 17b. This result suggests that the catalyst is intimately involved in the acylation event. 

Tartaric acid can be obtained in four forms dextro-, laevo-, meso- and the mixed-isomer equilibrium, or racemic, form. Commercially, it is usually available as cferfro-tartaric acid. This acid has a sharper flavour than citric and it may therefore be used at a slightly lower level to give equivalent palate acidity. (Palate acidity is a purely subjective evaluation and it is generally agreed that a number of acids can be used at concentrations different from those indicated by their chemical acid equivalent, see Table 5.3.)... 

Peptide synthesis is an extremely important area of chemistry for the pharmaceutical industry, and like any specialized area of chemistry, has its own set of unique problems associated with it. Racemization and purification of final products are two of the most difficult problems in this area. The use of enzymes has been explored as a possible answer to these problems since 1938 [29]. However, proteases needed to catalyze peptide synthesis are subject to rapid autolysis under the conditions needed to affect peptide coupling, so this has generally not been a practical approach until cross-linked enzyme crystals of proteases became available. The synthetic utility of protease-CLCs was demonstrated by the thermolysin CLC (PeptiCLEC -TR)-catalyzed preparation of the aspartame precursor Z-... 

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