Kinetic resolution of poly(ethylene glycol)-supported carbonates by enzymatic hydrolysis

The enzyme-mediated enantioselective hydrolysis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-supported carbonates is disclosed. The water-soluble carbonates were prepared by immobilization of a racemic secondary alcohol (4-benzyloxy-2-butanol) onto low-molecular weight (av MW 550 and 750) monomethoxy PEG through a carbonate linker. For the screening of the hydrolytic enzymes, the substrate was enantioselectively hydrolyzed by commercially available lipase from porcine pancreas (PPL; Type II, Sigma) to afford the optically active compounds. In this system, the separation of the remaining (S)-substrate and the resulting (R)-alcohol was achieved by an extraction process without a laborious column chromatography. The (S)-carbonate was easily hydrolyzed with K2CO3 to afford the corresponding (S)-alcohol. Other MPEG-supported substrates were also hydrolyzed to afford the corresponding optically active alcohols.