Hydrolysis of alkenyl esters and ethers catalyzed by metal complexes.

[reaction: see text] Various kinds of transition metals catalyzed the hydrolysis of alkenyl esters and ethers under buffer-free, high concentration conditions compared to usual biocatalysts. Hydrolytic kinetic resolution of cis-2-tert-butylcyclohexyl vinyl ether was achieved by chiral (salen)Co complexes with good selectivity (k(rel) = 10.0).