Dynamic kinetic resolution of racemic tropic acid ethyl ester and its derivatives

The dynamic kinetic resolution of racemic mixtures of tropic acid ethyl ester under substrate racemizing conditions was studied using lipase PS with a ruthenium catalyst. Isopropenyl acetate was used as an acyl donor, since it was found to be compatible with both catalysts; this resulted in an efficient dynamic kinetic resolution. With this process, a variety of racemic tropic acid ethyl esters were transformed to optically active acetoxy-2-arylpropionic acid ethyl esters with 60–88% yields and 53–92% ee.