ONE BIOCATALYST - MANY APPLICATIONS - THE USE OF CANDIDA-ANTARCTICA B-LIPASE IN ORGANIC-SYNTHESIS

The application of the B-component lipase from the yeast Candida antar ctica in organic synthesis is reviewed. This enzyme has been found to be a particularly efficient and robust lipase catalyzing a surprising diversity of reactions including many different regio- and enantio-sel ective syntheses. Furthermore, the C. antarctica B-lipase is an exampl e of an enzyme for which its specificity has been predicted based on t he crystal structure and modeling of the active site region. This pred iction is compared to experimental observations and a very close corre lation is found.