Baker's yeast catalyzed asymmetric reduction of methyl acetoacetate in glycerol containing systems

The asymmetric hydrogenation of methyl acetoacetate was successfully performed with baker's yeast in pure glycerol and mixtures of glycerol and water. Though yeast viability was very low after exposure to glycerol, the enzymatic activity in pure glycerol was preserved for some days. In addition, a mixture of glycerol and water combined the advantageous of each individual solvent and resulted in high catalytic performance and efficient product extraction yield.