Biocatalytic resolution of nitro-substituted phenoxypropylene oxides with Trichosporon loubierii epoxide hydrolase and prediction of their enantiopurity variation with reaction time

Biocatalytic resolution of 3-(2′-nitrophenoxy)propylene oxide (1a), 3-(3′-nitrophenoxy)propylene oxide (1b) and 3-(4′-nitrophenoxy)propylene oxide (1c) were exploited by using lyophilized cells of yeast Trichosporon loubierii ECU1040 with epoxide hydrolase (EH) activity, which preferentially hydrolyzes (S)-enantiomers of the epoxides (1a–c), yielding (S)-diols and (R)-epoxides. The activity increased as the nitro group in the phenyl ring was shifted from 4′-position (1c) to 2′-position (1a). When the substrate concentration of 1a was increased from 10 to 80 mM, the E-value increased at first, until reaching a peak at 40 mM, and then decreased at higher concentrations (>40 mM). The optically active epoxide (R)-1a was prepared at gram-scale (97% ee, 41% yield). Furthermore, a simple method was developed to predict the enantiomeric excess of substrate (ees) at any time of the whole reaction course based on the ees value determined at a certain reaction time at a relatively lower substrate concentration. This will be helpful for terminating the reaction at a proper time to get both higher optical purity and higher yield of the remaining epoxides.