Resolution of (R,S)-ibuprofen catalyzed by immobilized Novozym40086 in organic phase.

The enantioselective esterification of ibuprofen catalyzed by Novozym40086 was successfully conducted in organic solvent. Removing-water reagent was added into the reaction mixture to remove water produced in the esterification. The effects of temperature, n-hexanol concentration, ibuprofen concentration, and loading of enzymes were investigated. Under the condition of equilibrium, the thermodynamic equilibrium constant (K) of 7.697 and enantioselectivity (E) of 8.512 were obtained. The esterification reaction achieved its equilibrium in approximately 30 hours with conversion of 56% and ee of 93.78%. The predicted values of X and ee were 67.90% and 95.60%, respectively. The experimental value is approximately equal to the theoretical value, which indicates the feasibility of ideal models.