PRODUCTION OF D(-)-TARTARIC ACID

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To industrially advantageously obtain D(-)-tartaric acid useful as an intermediate for an optically active medicine and agrochemical, etc., by treating cis-epoxysuccinic acid with a microbial cell (treated substance) of Al- caligenes sp. MCI3611 in the presence of water. SOLUTION: A microbial cell and/or a treated substance of the microbial cell of Alcaligenes sp. MCI3611 (FERM P-16861) is inoculated into a liquid medium containing cis-epoxysuccinic acid and aerobically cultured in the presence of water at about 30 deg.C for 40 hours. The microbial cell is collected from the culture solution by centrifugal separation and reacted with a phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.0) containing cis-epoxysuccinic acid at 35 deg.C for 30 hours. Since cis-epoxysuccinic acid vanished as a result, a formed product is recovered from the reaction solution and subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography to give the objective (-)-tartaric acid industrially advantageously.