Production of (R)-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)ethanol in high enantiomeric purity by Lactobacillus paracasei BD101

Piperonyl ring is found in a number of naturally occurring compounds and possesses enormous biological activities. There are many studies in the literature with compounds containing a piperonyl ring, but there are very few studies on the synthesis of chiral piperonyl carbinol. The objective of this study was to determine the microbial reduction ability of bacterial strains and to reveal the effects of different physicochemical parameters on this reduction ability. A total of 15 bacterial isolates were screened for their ability to reduce 1-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl) ethanone 1 to its corresponding alcohol. Among these isolates Lactobacillus paracasei BD101 was found to be the most successful biocatalyst to reduce the ketone containing piperonyl ring to the corresponding alcohol. The reaction conditions were systematically optimized for the reducing agent L paracasei BD101, which showed high enantioselectivity and conversion for the bioreduction. The preparative scale study was performed, and a total of 3.72 g of (R)-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl) ethanol in high enantiomeric form (>99% enantiomeric excess) was produced in a mild, cheap, and environment-friendly process. This study demonstrates that L paracasei BD101 can be used as a biocatalyst to obtain chiral carbinol with excellent yield and selectivity.