title: Lipase-catalyzed polyester synthesis--a green polymer chemistry.
abstract: This article is a short comprehensive review describing in vitro polyester synthesis catalyzed by a hydrolysis enzyme of lipase, most of which has been developed for these two decades. Polyesters are prepared by repeated ester bond-formation reactions; they include two major modes, ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic monomers such as cyclic esters (lactones) and condensation polymerization via the reaction between a carboxylic acid or its ester group and an alcohol group. Polyester synthesis is, therefore, a reaction in reverse way of in vivo lipase catalysis of ester bond-cleavage with hydrolysis. The lipase-catalyzed polymerizations show very high chemo-, regio-, and enantio-selectivities and involve various advantageous characteristics. Lipase is robust and compatible with other chemical catalysts, which allows novel chemoenzymatic processes. New syntheses of a variety of functional polyesters and a plausible reaction mechanism of lipase catalysis are mentioned. The polymerization characteristics are of green nature currently demanded for sustainable society, and hence, desirable for conducting 'green polymer chemistry'.
authors.affiliation: R & D Center for Biobased Materials, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. kobayash@kit.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055162:Biocatalysis; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology / Q000379:methods*; D008049:Lipase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D011091:Polyesters; D008049:Lipase