Asymmetric biohydrolysis of trialkyl oxiranes (±)-1a–3a using the epoxide hydrolase activity of whole bacterial cells proceeded in an enantioconvergent fashion and thus led to the corresponding (R)-configurated vicinal diols 1b–3b in up to 97% enantiomeric excess (ee) as the sole product. The mechanism of this enantioconvergence was investigated by 18O- labelling experiments and it was found that both enantiomers were hydrolysed with ...
