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Updated: May 24, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
Lipases as catalysts in synthesis of fine chemicals
1Laboratorio de Biocatálisis, Departamento de Química Orgánica y UMYMFOR, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. alib@qo.fcen.uba.ar
Abstract:
The application of lipases as catalysts in the synthesis of an intermediate of alfuzosin and lapyrium chloride is described. In the first case, the one-pot procedure to obtain the intermediate involves the treatment of tetrahydrofuroic acid with ethanol in the presence of Candida antarctica lipase followed by the addition of N-methyl-1,3-diaminopropane. In the second part of the chapter, an efficient route for large-scale preparation of lapyrium chloride is developed from chloroacetic acid in four steps, three of them enzymatic. Due to the chemoselective behavior of the lipases, both products described in the present chapter were obtained in a high degree of purity and yield, applying mild reaction conditions, and following a low environmental impact methodology.
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