Patent ID: 8647848

Claim:
A process for the biocatalytic preparation of a sphingolipid of formula I comprising: preparing a lysosphingolipid of formula II by deprotonation of an acid addition product of said lysosphingolipid, wherein said deprotonation employs a base that does not liberate any water during said deprotonation; and reacting said lysosphingolipid with a carboxylic ester of formula III where R 1 represents a linear or branched alkyl chain which has 2 to 55 carbon atoms, R 2 represents H, phosphocholine, ethanolamine, serine or a sugar, X represents CH═CH, CH 2 —CH 2 or CHOH, R 3 represents a branched or unbranched alkyl radical with has 1 to 12 carbon atoms and may be substituted with at least one radical —OR 4 , where R 4 is selected from the group consisting of H and —C(O)R 1 , where R 1 is a defined above, in the presence of a biocatalyst that comprises at least one carboxylic ester hydrolase of enzyme class E.C. 3.1.1 which is/are at least 80% homologous at the amino acid level with a carboxylic ester hydrolase of enzyme class E.C. 3.1.1 isolated from an organism of the kingdom of fungi.