The mechanism of the enzymatic iodination process of diethylmaleate and diethylfumarate (which present no miscibility with water) in the presence of lactoperoxidase, both in diluted hydrogen peroxide solution and in a generating system of hydrogen peroxide using ammonium and calcium iodides as halide sources in disperse system (after an ultrasonic pretreatment) was studied. The obtained sole product (diethyl-2, 3-diiodosuccinate) after the enzymatic iodination process was directly hydrolyzed to a tartaric acid present in an optically inactive form. The mechanism of obtaining the intermediate and final products and respectively, the existence of both D, L-tartaric acid and meso-tartaric acids (as lithium bitartrates) were also investigated.
