Lipase enhanced catalytic efficiency in lactonisation reactions

We studied an enantioselective. lipase-catalysed transesterification reacti on for the production of the statin lactone moiety. It is well known that t he chiral cyclic structure of statins is very important for their pharmaceu tical activity in the prevention and treatment of coronary artery diseases. We focused our attention on 3R,5R-6-(ethyl-2-phenyl)-4-hydroxytetrahydropyr an-2-one (2); this was synthesised by employing an enantioselective lactoni sation reaction catalysed by a commercial preparation of porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) starting from a racemic mixture of syn-diol rac-1. Optimisati on of the reaction conditions for the biocatalysed intramolecular transeste rification reaction of the racemic diol I was carried out. It was seen that the maximal reaction rate could be greatly enhanced by the addition of sol id matrices to the reaction medium. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.