Chemo-enzymatic process for the preparation of escitalopram

摘要

A process for preparing an intermediate for synthesizing escitalopram and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof from 4-(4-dimethylamino)-1-(4'-fluorophenyl)-1-(hydroxybutyl)-3-(acyloxymethyl)benzonitrile is described. The process involves converting said intermediate into the (S+) enantiomer of citalopram by means of enzymatic enantiomeric resolution.