Patent ID: 7824899

Claim:
A process for the preparation of an enantiomerically enriched amine, comprising: a) cleaving a racemic mixture of a reaction product of i) a chiral amine and ii) an acyl donor, in the presence of a hydrolase, to obtain a mixture of an enantiomerically enriched amide and an enantiomerically enriched amine; or b) reacting an amine with an acyl donor, in the presence of a hydrolase, to obtain a mixture of an enantiomerically enriched amide and an enantiomerically enriched amine; and c) separating the enantiomerically enriched amide from the enantiomerically enriched amine, wherein said acyl donor is a sulphonylacetic acid ester of the formula 2 wherein R 1 and R 2 independently of one another are (C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl, HO—(C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl, (C 2 -C 8 )-alkoxyalkyl, (C 6 -C 18 )-aryl, (C 7 -C 19 )-aralkyl, (C 3 -C 18 )-heteroaryl, (C 4 -C 19 )-heteroaralkyl, (C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl-(C 6 -C 19 )-aryl, (C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl-(C 3 -C 18 )-heteroaryl, (C 3 -C 8 )-cyclo-alkyl, (C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl-(C 3 -C 8 )-cycloalkyl, or (C 3 -C 8 )-cycloalkyl-(C 1 -C 8 )-alkyl.