Enzyme process for the preparation of lipoamino acids of the alkyl amide and ester type

摘要

Enzyme process for the preparation of lipoamino acids of the alkyl amide and ester type. This relates to a process for the synthesis of single- chain lipid derivatives of amino acids of general formula H2N-CHR1-CO-NH-R2 and H2N-CHR1-CO-O-R2, where R1 may be a hydrogen, a straight or branched optionally substituted saturated or unsaturated chain or an optionally substituted aromatic group and R2 is an alkyl chain of any length. It involves the use of hydrolytic enzyme to form amide and ester links between an amino acid derivative and an alkyl amine or alcohol respectively. The advantages offered are fundamentally that it eliminates the production of undesirable by-products, that it is stereospecific (regionally selective and enantioselective), the operating conditions are mild and it can be scaled to industrial level. For this reason this new process can be an alternative to the conventional synthesis for the preparation of these surfactants of natural origin and low toxicity.