Leendert W. Schwab

Molecular modeling studies of lipase-catalyzed β-lactam polymerization

Enzymatic polymerization has emerged over the last 5 years as a field of considerable interest and commercial promise. The reaction proceeds with high regio-, enantio, and chemoselectivity under relatively mild conditions. Enzymes have been used so far to synthesize polyesters, polysaccharides, polycarbonates, polyphenols, polyanilines, vinyl polymers, and poly-amino acids [1]. Particularly, lipase B of Candida antarctica immobilized on polyacrylic resin (Novozyme 435) has proven to be a very versatile catalyst and has successfully been used for the synthesis of polyesters from various substrates [2][3][4]. Little, however, has been reported on the enzyme catalyzed synthesis of polyamides [5].