Enzymatic kinetic resolution of aliphatic sec-alcohols by LipG9, a metagenomic lipase

• Metagenomics is a useful technique for finding new biocatalysts.
• LipG9 was successful employed in enzymatic kinetic resolution of aliphatic alcohols.
• LipG9 showed activity and selectivity comparable to commercially available enzymes for the explored reactions.

Bioprospection for new enantioselective enzymes for application in organic synthesis is a prominent area of investigation in biocatalysis. In this context, here we present the evaluation of an immobilized lipase isolated from a metagenomic library (LipG9) for the enzymatic kinetic resolution (EKR) of aliphatic sec-alcohols, which are still challenging substrates, since low enantioselectivity values are usually observed for these resolutions. LipG9 was successfully employed in EKR of aliphatic alcohols, which were resolved with satisfactory conversions (19–59%) and enantiomeric excesses for alcohols (26–88%) and esters (30–96%) by transesterification reactions, demonstrating that its performance is equal to or better than commercially available enzymes for the same reaction.

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