Preparative scale enantioseparation of flurbiprofen by lipase-catalysed reaction

Effects of reaction media, alcohols and water on the enzyme activity of the immobilised Candida antarctica lipase were investigated for the separation of racemic flurbiprofen by an esterification reaction catalysed by immobilised enzyme in organic media. The S-enantiomer of flurbiprofen was directly resolved by the immobilised lipase esterification reaction in acetonitrile. Ping-Pong Bi–Bi kinetics were found to fit the initial reaction well of all the experimental runs. Model parameters for the reaction kinetics were evaluated from experiments at relatively low substrate concentrations, have shown to be applicable for preparative separation scale at high concentrations. Finally, the gram-scale production of single enantiomer with the optical purity of 93% e.e. was obtained.