Objective To purify an esterase which can selectively hydrolyze (R,S)-ethyl indoline-2-carboxylate to produce (S)-indoline-2-carboxylic acid and characterize its enzymatic properties. Results An intracellular esterase from Bacillus aryabhattai B8W22 was isolated and the purified protein was identified as a carboxylesterase by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The enzyme (named BaCE) was 59.03-fold purification determined to be of approximately 35 kDa. Its specific activity was 0.574 U/mL with 20% yield. The enzyme showed maximum activity at pH 8.5 and 30 degrees C and was stable at 20-30 degrees C using pNPB as the substrate. The K-m, V-max, k(cat) and k(cat)/K-m of the esterase were 0.52 mM, 6.39 mu M/min, 26.87 min(-1) and 51.67 mM/min, respectively. The esterase demonstrated high enantioselectivity toward (S)-ethyl indoline-2-carboxylate with 96.55% e.e.(p) at 44.39% conversion, corresponding to an E value of 133.45. Conclusions In this study, a new esterase BaCE with an apparent molecular mass of 35 kDa was purified to homogeneity for the first time. The esterase from Bacillus aryabhattai B8W22 was isolated with a purification more than 59-fold and a yield of 20% by anion exchange chromatography and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. And its biochemical characterization were described in detail with pNPB as substrate. It displayed high enantioselectivity toward (S)-ethyl indoline-2-carboxylate. We next plan to highly express esterase BaCE in Escherichia coli, and apply it to industrial production of (S)-indoline-2-carboxylic acid.