A method to greatly improve the enantioselectivity of lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an additive

The addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) resulted in a dramatic improvement of the enantioselectivity of the lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of racemic butyl 2-(4-substituted phenoxy)propanoates, racemic butyl 2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propanoate, and racemic butyl 2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propanoate in an aqueous buffer solution. An increase in the E value by up to two orders of magnitude was observed for some esters. As to the effects of SDS on the structure of a lipase, FT-IR and fluorescence measurements suggest some conformational change and/or an increase of the flexibility of the lipase, although the native secondary structure of the lipase is held even in the presence of 100 mM SDS. The origin of the enantioselectivity enhancement brought about by the addition of SDS is briefly discussed on the basis of the values of the initial rates obtained for each enantiomer of the substrate.

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