Enantioselective reduction of 3-aryl-2-oxo-propanoic acids: A comparison of enzymatic and transition-metal-catalyzed methods

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/ejoc.201201506

Phenyllactic acids are important constituents of depsipeptides, which are a large class of natural products expressing a wide range of biological activities. Despite there being several methods for the enantioselective synthesis of α-hydroxy acids, almost no studies are available addressing the substrate selectivity of transition-metal and enzyme-catalyzed methods for the preparation of substituted phenyllactic or more general aryllactic acids. We report herein comparative results for Rh-DiPAMP (DiPAMP = 1,2-ethandiylbis[(o- methoxyphenyl)phenylphosphane]) and lactate dehydrogenase catalyzed enantioselective reductions of several 3-aryl-2-oxopropanoic acids. Phenyllactic acids are important constituents of depsipeptides, which are a large class of natural products expressing a wide range of biological activities. A comparative study of transition-metal and lactate dehydrogenase catalyzed enantioselective reductions of several 3-aryl-2-oxopropanoic acids as valuable sources for enantiomerically pure phenyllactic acids is described. Copyright