Ly. Jayasinghe et al., THE USE OF ORGANIC-SOLVENT SYSTEMS IN THE YEAST MEDIATED REDUCTION OFETHYL ACETOACETATE, Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, 67(9), 1994, pp. 2528-2531
The reduction of ethyl acetoacetate to ethyl (S)-3-hydroxybutyrate, me
diated by freeze-dried yeast, proceeds in good yield (53-58%) and with
high enantioselectivity (> 96%ee) in a number of organic solvents; pe
troleum ether, diethyl ether, toluene, and carbon tetrachloride. A sma
ll amount of water (0.8 ml (g-yeast)-1) is required for the reaction t
o proceed. The water/yeast/substrate ratio and the solvent polarity ha
ve been found to significantly influence the reactivity of the system.
The enantiomeric excess was determined by gas chromatography employin
g a chiral column.