Lipase mediated enantiomer and diastereomer separation of 2,2′-[1,2- and 1,3-phenylenebis(oxy)]dicyclohexanols

Separation of diastereomeric and enantiomeric mixtures of 2,2′-[1,2- and 1,3-phenylenebis(oxy)]dicyclohexanols rac-3a and meso-3a, and rac-3b and meso-3b—resulting from the reactions of pyrocatechol 1a and resorcinol 1b with cyclohexene oxide 2—were performed using acetylation catalyzed by the highly stereoselective Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435). The absolute configurations of the resulting diols (S,S,S,S)-3a,b, monoacetates (R,R,S,S)-4a,b and diacetates (R,R,R,R)-5a,b were assigned on the basis of the steric analogy to the acetylation of racemic trans-2-phenoxycyclohexanol rac-6 with the same enzyme resulting in the known acetate (−)-(R,R)-7.