Lactones 34 [1]. Application of alcohol dehydrogenase from horse liver (HLADH) in enantioselective synthesis of δ- and ε-lactones

The ability of horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (HLADH) to the enantioselective oxidation of primary-primary, primary-secondary and primary-tertiary aliphatic 1,5- and 1,6-diols 1a-i was studied. No enantioselectivity of the transformations of primary-primary 1,6-diols 1a-d to epsilon-lactones 4a-d was observed. Regioselective oxidation of primary-secondary 1,6-diols 1e,f and 1,5-diols 1h,i afforded enantiomerically enriched epsilon-lactones 4e,f and delta-lactones 4h,i. epsilon-Lactones 4e,f were formed with higher enantiomeric excesses (e.e. = 85-99%). Enzymatic oxidation of primary-tertiary 1,6-diol 1g did not give lactone product. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.