NOVEL PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF CHIRAL COMPOUNDS DERIVED FROM HEXANOIC ACID ESTERS AND INTERMEDIATES USED IN THE SYNTHESIS OF CHIRAL-2-(BROMOMETHYL)-2-ETHYLHEXANOIC ACID

1 . A process for the preparation of an R or S chiral compound of formula (I)

in which R1 represents a hydroxyl radical or R′ 1 , wherein R′ 1 is an acid-activating functional group selected from the group consisting of chlorine and bromine radicals, hydroxyl-benzothiazole ester residues, mercapto-benzothiazole thioester residues, benzotriazole 3-oxide amide residues and mixed sulphonate- and phosphate-anhydride residues, and

R 2 is a C1-C8-alkyl, optionally substituted by one or more halogen atoms, or a benzyl radical

comprising:

a) treating a compound of formula (II)

with a reactant capable of attaching a chain represented by the formula

where said reactant is halogenated at the chain end or unsaturated at the chain end; and

wherein either A and B is hydrogen and C is bromine, or

A and B form a second carbon-carbon bond and C is hydrogen, or

A and C are both hydrogen and B is a ketone functional group producing a compound of formula (III)

wherein A, B, C and R 2 are as defined above and the ketone functional group of B is optionally protected in order to obtain a compound of formula (III′)

wherein R 2 is as defined above and B′ is a protected ketone functional group selected from the group consisting of ketal and thioketal,

b) treating the compound of formula (III) or (III′) with an hydrolytic enzyme selected from the group consisting of an esterase, a protease, a lipase, a hog liver esterase, chymotrypsin, a hog pancreas lipase, chirazyme E 1 , and mixtures thereof, to produce a chiral compound of formula (IV):

or a chiral compound of formula (IV 1 ):

or the compound of formula (IV′) or (IV′ 1 )

wherein A, B, C, R 2 and B′ are as defined above;

c) treating the compounds of formula (IV) or (IV 1 ) or (IV′) or (IV′ 1 ) under conditions capable of generating the corresponding chiral compound of formula (I A ):

wherein R 2 is as defined above and R 1 is hydroxyl and,

d) optionally treating a compound of formula (I A ) with an agent which activates the acid functional group, in order to obtain a chiral compound of formula (I B )

wherein R′ 1 and R 2 are defined above.

2 . A process for the preparation of the chiral compound of formula (A):

comprising:

a) reacting a compound of formula (I) as recited in claim 1

wherein R 1 is hydroxyl or R′ 1 wherein R′ 1 is an acid activating functional group selected from the group consisting of chlorine and bromine radicals, hydroxybenzothiazole-derived ester residues, mercaptobenzothiazole-derived thioester residues, benzotriazole 3-oxide derived amide residues and mixed sulphonate- and phosphate-derived anhydride residues and R 2 is a C1-C8-alkyl, optionally substituted by one or more halogen atoms, or a benzyl group;

with a reducing agent selected from the group consisting of an alkaline borohydride, an alkoxyborane or an acylborane in order to obtain a chiral compound of formula (V):

wherein R 2 is C1-C8-alkyl, optionally substituted by one or more halogen atoms, or a benzyl group;

b) saponifying the compound of formula (V) in order to obtain the chiral acid of formula (VI)

c) subjecting the compound of formula (VI) to a brominating agent in order to obtain the chiral compound of formula (A).

3 . The process of claim 2 wherein R 1 of formula (I) is R′ 1 .

4 . A compound selected from the group consisting of:

wherein:

i) A and B form a carbon-carbon bond and C is hydrogen, or

ii) A and C are both hydrogen and B is a ketone functional group, B′ is a protected ketone functional group selected from the group consisting of ketal and thioketal and R 2 is C 1 -C 8 -alkyl, optionally substituted by one or more halogens, or a benzyl radical.

5 . A chiral compound selected from the group consisting of:

wherein:

i) A and B are both hydrogen and C is a bromine atom, or,

ii) A and B form a second carbon-carbon bond and C is a hydrogen, or

iii) A and C each is hydrogen atom and B is a ketone functional group, and

iv) R 2 is C1-C8-alkyl, optionally substituted by one or more halogen atoms, or a benzyl group, and

v) B′ is a protected ketone functional group selected from the group consisting of a ketal and a thioketal.