ABSTRACT
Inuence of chirality on the hydrolysis reactions within the active site of hydrolases Hydrolases have a superior ability to discriminate molecular chirality compared to many other enzymes used for enantioselective processes. They are highly promising as industrially viable processes based on hydrolase-catalyzed resolution (Bornsheuer and Kazlauskas, 1999). The hydrolytic enzymes, such as lipases, proteases, and esterases, are highly useful as chiral catalysts for enantioselective synthesis, and several case studies are reported (Chikusa et al., 2003, 289). However, in many cases, the development of the enantioselection is based on trial and error, and the details of the active site of the hydrolase and its in…uence on the course of the reaction are yet to be understood. In this chapter, a few examples of chiral discrimination by hydrolases are discussed where the molecular origin of the chiral preference is investigated.
