With olive oil hydrolysis in aqueous solutions and hydrolytic resolution of (R,S)-profen 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl thioesters in water-saturated isooctane as the model systems, the lipolysis and enantioselective hydrolysis activities of four partially purified Carica papaya lipases of different plant variety and geography location of cultures were compared to select pCPL-Indo from Indonesia as the best lipase preparation. For lipolysis, an optimal pH of 8.5 for all lipase preparations was found. Yet, pCPL-Indo possessed the highest activity at pH ranged from 7 to 10. For the kinetic resolution, the thermodynamic analysis implied that pCPL-Indo has changed the conformation at 60 degrees C and the enantiomer discrimination was dominated by Delta Delta H. The kinetic analysis also indicated that the enantionteric discrimination was mainly due to the difference of k(2S) and k(2R) in the acylation step. Agreements between experimental time-course conversions X-S and best-fitted results were illustrated by considering effects of product inhibition and enzyme deactivation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.