Patent ID: 7439036

Claim:
A process for producing an optically active N-protected-octahydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid of formula (2): wherein R 2 represents a protecting group of an imino group, and the carbon atoms denoted with asterisks (*) represent asymmetric carbon atoms, which process comprises reacting a mixture of enantiomers of N-protected-octahydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylate of formula (1): wherein R 1 is a C1-4 alkyl group, and R 2 is as defined above, with an enzyme capable of asymmetrically hydrolyzing the —CO 2 R 1 group of formula (1), wherein the enzyme is an enzyme i) produced by a microorganism deposited with accession number FERM BP-6703, ii) comprising a polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or iii) comprising a polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 modified by deletion, substitution or both of the amino acids selected from the group consisting of amino acid 160 of SEQ ID NO:1 and amino acid 189 of SEQ ID NO:1.