Remarkable acceleration of a lipase-catalyzed reaction by a thiacrown ether additive: buffer-free highly regioselective partial hydrolysis of 4-acetoxy-2-methylbut-2-enyl acetate

Abstract

The reaction efficiency of the lipase-catalyzed partial hydrolysis of 4-acetoxy-2-methylbut-2-enyl acetate is greatly enhanced by the presence of 5 mol% of a thiacrown ether, particularly remarkable improvement being observed in CRL- and PCL-catalyzed reactions. 4-Hydroxy-2-methylbut-2-enyl acetate has thus been simply prepared by buffer-free lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis.