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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Enzymatic Synthesis of Epoxidized Metabolites of Docosahexaenoic, Eicosapentaenoic, and Arachidonic Acids
Published on: June 28, 2019
Production of optically active ketoprofen by direct enzymatic esterification
1Department of Chemical Technology, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
Abstract:
For the production of optically active ketoprofen, enzymatic resolution of racemic ketoprofen in an organic solvent has been accomplished via enantioselective esterification. Pharmacologically inactive (R)-ketoprofen is converted into the corresponding (R)-ester by this method. Enantioselectivity in lipase-catalyzed resolution of racemic ketoprofen was mainly dependent on the sources of lipase, alcohol moiety, organic solvent, and water content. Ethanol was used as the alkyl donor and the optimum water content required for highly efficient enzymatic resolution was determined to be 0.1-0.15% (v/v), which was maintained using salt hydrates such as Na2SO4 x 10H2O. (S)-Ketoprofen could be obtained with high enantioselectivity (E=15) in n-hexane supplemented with ethylene dichloride (20% (v/v)) using commercially available Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435).
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