Author Contact: email@example.com Biocatalysis and
biotransformations are important alternatives to consider when
one is looking to substitute a conventional method with a
greener one. One of the many advantages of using
biotransformation as a synthetic method is that they are usually
done in water and at ambient conditions. In addition, the
reagents themselves are readily available, safe, and inexpensive
to both buy and dispose of. This experiment uses shredded
carrots to enantioselectively reduce benzofuran-2-yl methyl
ketone, yielding the optically pure alcohol. This lab
illustrates the topics of green chemistry, biocatalysis,
biotransformations, reductions, carbonyl chemistry,
stereochemistry, stereoselectivity, optical activity, thin-layer
chromatography, liquid-liquid extractions, and column
chromatography. The authors also suggest that students perform
the sodium borohydride reduction of the ketone to compare and
contrast the ease, safety, "greenness" and stereoselectivity of
the two reactions. The sup