Molecular structure and conformational analysis of chiral alcohols. Application to the enantioselectivity study of lipases

The molecular structures of the chiral compounds 1-phenylethanol, 2-hexanol and 1-phenylethanol acetate have been studied theoretically by ab initio methods. Conformational analysis and electronic structure studies have been carried out with these molecules at STO-3G^* and 6-31G^* basis sets. For the study of the interaction of lipases with substrates, a simplified model of the tetrahedral intermediate has been calculated at the 6-31G^*//4-31G^* level. Molecular mechanics simulations of the interaction of these compounds with the lipases of Candida rugosa, Pseudomonas cepacia and Rhizomucor miehei have been used to study the enantioselectivity of these lipases in the transesterification reaction of the chiral alcohols. The theoretical results have been compared with experimental data and good agreement was observed. It can be concluded that the enantioselectivity of these lipases is controlled by the formation of a tetrahedral intermediate, whereas Michaelis complex formation has a much lower significance.