A simple and practical synthesis of 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), an endogenous agonist for cannabinoid receptors, based on a two-step enzymatic process and a chemical coupling, was achieved with a good yield and negligible amount of the isomerization product 1-AG. Commercial preparation of immobilized lipase from Mucor miehei (MML) was selected as the most suitable enzyme to catalyze the efficient protection of glycerol using vinyl benzoate as an acyl transfer reagent in tetrahydrofuran. The same enzyme was used to remove the protective groups in positions 1 and 3. Owing to the mild neutral conditions and easy suitability of the method, 2-AG was obtained without any isomerization to the more stable 1-AG and air oxidation of acid chain. The synthetic method proposed here allows us to easily obtain 2-AG from the protected precursor in a one-step reaction without purification requirement.
Keywords: 2-Arachidonoylglycerol; Mucor miehei lipase; biocatalysis; monoacylglycerol.