Process for the production of optically-active esters of lactic acid and lactyllactic acid

1. A process for producing an aliphatic ester of lactic acid and an aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid, one of said esters being in the R form and the other being in the S form, comprising:

contacting a mixture of R,R- and S,S-lactide with an aliphatic alcohol and an enzyme in the presence of a ketone solvent

and producing a mixture comprising the aliphatic ester of lactic acid corresponding to one lactide enantiomer (R or S) and the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid corresponding to the other lactide enantiomer (S or R).

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the ketone solvent is selected from the group consisting of acetone, methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone.

3. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the aliphatic ester of lactic acid has an enantiomeric excess of at least 90%.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid has an enantiomeric excess of at least 90%.

5. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the aliphatic alcohol is a C 2 to C 8 aliphatic alcohol.

6. The process as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the molar ratio of C 2 to C 8 aliphatic alcohol to racemic lactide is in the range 2:1 to 5:1.

7. The process as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the C 2 to C 8 aliphatic alcohol (a) is n-butanol.

8. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is a Candida antarctica lipase B, and the aliphatic ester of lactic acid and the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid are respectively an aliphatic ester of R-lactic acid and an aliphatic ester of S,S-lactyllactic acid.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is chemically or physically immobilised on a porous support.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , which comprises the further step of converting one or both of the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid and the aliphatic ester of lactic acid into the corresponding R,R- or S,S-enantiomer of lactide and/or the corresponding R- or S-enantiomer of lactic acid.

11. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mixture of R,R- and S,S-lactide has been prepared from a mixture of R- and S-lactic acid.

12. The process as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the mixture of R- and S-lactic acid has been prepared by treating a monosaccharide or glycerol with a base.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises separating the aliphatic ester of lactic acid from the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid by fractional distillation; and either, where the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid is an aliphatic ester of S,S-lactyllactic acid, the process comprises hydrolysing the aliphatic ester of S,S-lactyllactic acid to produce S-lactic acid or, where the aliphatic ester of lactic acid is an aliphatic ester of S-lactic acid, the process comprises hydrolysing the aliphatic ester of S-lactic acid to produce S-lactic acid.

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises separating the aliphatic ester of lactic acid from the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid by fractional distillation; and either, where the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid is an aliphatic ester of R,R-lactyllactic acid, the process comprises hydrolysing the aliphatic ester of R,R-lactyllactic acid to produce R-lactic acid or, where the aliphatic ester of lactic acid is an aliphatic ester of R-lactic acid, the process comprises hydrolysing the aliphatic ester of R-lactic acid to produce R-lactic acid.

15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process comprises separating the aliphatic ester of lactic acid from the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid by fractional distillation; and either, where the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid is an aliphatic ester of R,R-lactyllactic acid, the process comprises converting the aliphatic ester of R,R-lactyllactic acid to R,R-lactide or, where the aliphatic ester of lactic acid is an aliphatic ester of R-lactic acid, the process comprises converting the aliphatic ester of R-lactic acid to R,R-lactide.

16. The process as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the R,R-lactide produced is polymerised to produce poly-R-lactic acid.

17. The process as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the poly-R-lactic acid produced is melt blended to form stereocomplex polylactic acid.

18. The process according to claim 1 wherein the process comprises separating the aliphatic ester of lactic acid from the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid by fractional distillation; and either, where the aliphatic ester of lactyllactic acid is an aliphatic ester of S,S-lactyllactic acid, the process comprises converting the aliphatic ester of S,S-lactyllactic acid to S,S-lactide or, where the aliphatic ester of lactic acid is an aliphatic ester of S-lactic acid, the process comprises converting the aliphatic ester of S-lactic acid to S,S-lactide.

19. The process as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the S,S-lactide produced is polymerized to produce poly-S-lactic acid.

20. The process as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the poly-S-lactic acid produced is melt blended to form stereocomplex polylactic acid.