Enantioselective Resolution of (±)-1-Phenylethyl Acetate by Using the Whole Cells of Deep-sea Bacterium Bacillus sp. DL-2

Bacillus sp. DL-2 was isolated from the deep sea of the Western Pacific and further utilized as novel biocatalysts to efficiently asymmetrically hydrolyze (±)-1-phenylethyl acetate. After the optimization of hydrolytic reactions, chiral chemicals ( R )-1-phenylethanol and ( S )-1-phenylethyl acetate were obtained with high optical purities (96% and 99.8%, respectively). Our research is about the asymmeric hydrolysis of (±)-1-phenylethyl acetate using whole-cell biocatalysts. In addition, the optical purity of ( S )-1-phenylethyl acetate generated through the kinetic resolution of (±)-1-phenylethyl acetate using the whole-cells of Bacillus sp. DL-2 was the highest report so far. Using the whole cells of deep sea bacterium Bacillus sp. DL-2 as the biocatalysts is an environmentally friendly method and will play critical roles in industrial asymmetric synthesis.