Two Enzyme Cooperatively Catalyzed Tandem Polymerization for the Synthesis of Polyester Containing Chiral (R)- or (S)-Ibuprofen Pendants.

An interesting cooperation between Candida antarctica Lipase B (CAL-B) and alkaline protease from Bacillus subtilis (BSP) in the copolymerization of bulky ibuprofen-containing hydroxyacid methyl ester (HAEP) and epsilon-caprolactone (epsilon-CL) is observed. This cooperation improved the (M) over bar (n) of the polymers from 3130 (CAL-B) to 9200 g mol(-1) (CAL-B/BSP). Experimental results clearly indicate that CAL-B mainly catalyzes the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of epsilon-CL under the initiation of HAEP to form the homopolymer of epsilon-CL, while BSP catalyzes the subsequent polycondensation of the ROP product to yield the copolymer with increased molecular weight. Furthermore, using suitable chemo-enzymatic methods, valuable polyesters with chiral (R)- or (S)-ibuprofen pendants can be tailor-made.