Enzymatic Resolution of (±)-Epoxy-β-cyclogeraniol, a Synthetic Precursor for Abscisic Acid Analogs

Abstract

  Lipase-catalyzed optical resolution of (±)-epoxy-β-cyclogeraniol (1), a key synthetic intermediate for epoxy-β-ionylideneacetic acid, was achieved in high enantiomeric purity. Transesterification with vinyl acetate by using lipase P (Nagase) made enriched (-)-1, while hydrolysis of the corresponding acetate by using lipase P (Amano) afforded (+)-1 with a high E value (E=1600).