Synthesis of optically active amino acid derivatives via dynamic kinetic resolution.

The complete conversion of racemic amino acid amides to optically active amino acid derivatives was accomplished via lipase/palladium-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR). In the DKR, a lipase catalyzes the selective acylation of L-substrate in the presence of acyl donor while unreacted D-substrate is isomerized by a Pd nanocatalyst to L-substrate. The DKR reactions provided good yields (80-98%) and high enantiomeric excess (95-98% ee).