Spatial effects of oxovanadium-immobilized mesoporous silica on racemization of alcohols and application in lipase-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution

Abstract

We recently reported a new dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) method based on the combination of lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic alcohols and the V-MPS3-catalyzed in situ racemization of less reactive alcohol enantiomers. In V-MPS3, oxovanadium moieties were covalently bound to the inner surface of mesoporous silica (MPS) with a pore size of about 3 nm. The catalytic activity of V-MPS3 was much higher than that of related vanadium compounds; however, we could neither explain its unusually high activity nor confirm that the racemization predominantly occurred inside the V-MPS pores. Therefore, in this study, we prepared V-MPS2 and V-MPS4 from the corresponding MPS with pore diameters of approximately 2 nm and 4 nm, respectively and compared their racemization activities with that of V-MPS3 using some optically active alcohols with different molecular sizes and polarities. We discovered a positive correlation between the pore size of V-MPS and substrate racemization rate as well as the high polarity of the MPS pores. The results suggested that the racemization predominantly occurs in the pores of V-MPS and that a small pore size (2–4 nm) is essential to generate the polar environment of V-MPS, which probably accelerates the racemization by facilitating the C–O bond cleavage of the vanadate intermediates. Using V-MPS with a pore size suitable for each substrate, lipase/oxovanadium combo-catalyzed DKR could be applied to a wider range of alcohols including allyl alcohols, benzylic alcohols, and propargyl alcohols to give the corresponding esters in excellent isolated yields and enantioselectivities.