Organic reactions catalysed by commercially available lipases, reported in recent years from our own laboratory and those published by others are described, confining the discussions to esteriflcation and hydrolytic reactions only. The text gives an insight into the variety of substrates accepted by these lipases and their potential applications to catalyse reactions regio-, chemo-, enantio- and diastereoselectively to produce compounds of industrial, commercial, pharmaceutical and synthetic interest.
