Enzymatic esterification of saturated fatty acids with aliphatic alcohols as an alternative method of a low-temperature synthesis of esters

摘要

low-temperature synthesis of saturated fatty acid esters with aliphatic alcohols by enzymatic esterification in the presence of heterogeneous biD 3/4 catalysts was suggested. The biD 3/4 catalysts were prepared by immobilization of recombinant rPichia/lip lipase on mesoporous silica. A comparison of the reaction rates was used to make up a matrix of biD 3/4 catalyst activities and determine a pair of acid/alcohol substrates, for which a maximum esterification rate was observed. A high activity of biD 3/4 catalysts was observed in the esterification of fatty acids with seven or more carbon atoms in the molecule. The rate of esterification of fatty acids with primary alcohols (n-C-3-C-16 or iso-C-5) was two orders of magnitude higher than that with secondary alcohols (sec-C-3-C-4). The silica-immobilized rPichia/lip lipase possessed a high operational stability; the biocatalyst operated without loss of activity for hun-dreds of hours at 18-22 degrees C in a non-traditional for enzymes medium of organic solvents.