Our patent on a chemo-enzymatic process on homogenizing of bile acid derivatives from diverse raw material sources to lithocholic acid (WO 2018/234479 A3) has now been granted in the US.
The invention relates to a method for preparing bile acid derivatives with a protected hydroxyl group in position 3, the method comprising the contacting of a bile acid derivative, having an unprotected 3-alpha-hydroxyl group, with a specific lipase. This enables now a promising starting point for new synthesis strategies towards valuable pharmaceutical active steroids using diverse raw materials.
