Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Synthesis of alkyl esters by cutinase in miniemulsion and organic solvent media

2009; Wiley; Volume: 4; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/biot.200800294

1860-7314

Dragana P.C. de Barros, Luís P. Fonseca, Joaquim M. S. Cabral, Clemens K. Weiss, Katharina Landfester,

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Abstract The main objective of this work was studying and testing the nature and influence of reaction media (organic solvent vs. miniemulsion system) on the synthesis of alkyl esters catalyzed by Fusarium solani pisi cutinase. Ester synthesis and cutinase selectivity for different chain length of acids and alcohols (ethyl and hexyl) were evaluated. In iso ‐octane, after 1 h of reaction, cutinase exhibits rates of esterification between 0.24 μmol x mg – 1 x min –1 for ethyl oleate and 1.15 μmol x mg – 1 x min –1 for ethyl butyrate, while in a miniemulsion system the rates were from 0.05 for ethyl heptanoate to 0.76 μmol x mg –1 x min –1 for ethyl decanoate. The reaction rate for the synthesis of hexyl esters in a miniemulsion system was from 0.19 for hexyl heptanoate to 1.07 μmol x mg – 1 x min –1 for hexyl decanoate. High conversion yields of 95% at equilibrium after 8 h of reaction in iso ‐octane for pentanoic acid (C 5 ) with ethanol at equimolar concentration (0.1 M) was achieved. Additionally, this work showed that a significant and unexpected shift in cutinase selectivity occurred towards longer chain length carboxylic acids (C 8 –C 10 ) in miniemulsion system as compared to organic solvent ( iso ‐octane) and previous studies in reverse micellar systems. The possibility of working with higher concentration of substrates, without inhibitory effect on the enzyme, was another advantage of the miniemulsion system.