Synthesis of 2-ethyl hexanol fatty acid esters in a packed bed bioreactor using a lipase immobilized on a textile membrane

Esters in the Food and Cosmetic Industries: An Overview of the Reactors Used in Their Biocatalytic Synthesis

Esters are versatile compounds with a wide range of applications in various industries due to their unique properties and pleasant aromas. Conventionally, the manufacture of these compounds has relied on the chemical route. Nevertheless, this technique employs high temperatures and inorganic catalysts, resulting in undesired additional steps to purify the final product by removing solvent residues, which decreases environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. In accordance with the principles of "Green Chemistry" and the search for more environmentally friendly methods, a new alternative, the enzymatic route, has been introduced. This technique uses low temperatures and does not require the use of solvents, resulting in more environmentally friendly final products. Despite the large number of studies published on the biocatalytic synthesis of esters, little attention has been paid to the reactors used for it. Therefore, it is convenient to gather the scattered information regarding the type of reactor employed in these synthesis reactions, considering the industrial field in which the process is carried out. A comparison between the performance of the different reactor configurations will allow us to draw the appropriate conclusions regarding their suitability for each specific industrial application. This review addresses, for the first time, the above aspects, which will undoubtedly help with the correct industrial implementation of these processes.

The beauty of biocatalysis: sustainable synthesis of ingredients in cosmetics

Covering: 2015 up to July 2021The market for cosmetics is consumer driven and the desire for green, sustainable and natural ingredients is increasing. The use of isolated enzymes and whole-cell organisms to synthesise these products is congruent with these values, especially when combined with the use of renewable, recyclable or waste feedstocks. The literature of biocatalysis for the synthesis of ingredients in cosmetics in the past five years is herein reviewed.

Affinity-binding immobilization of D-amino acid oxidase on mesoporous silica by a silica-specific peptide

Enzyme immobilization is widely used for large-scale industrial applications. However, the weak absorption through physical methods limits the recovery ability. Here, affinity-binding immobilization of enzymes was explored using a silica-specific affinity peptide (SAP) as a fusion tag to intensify the binding force between the enzyme and mesoporous silica (MPS) carrier. D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) of Rhodosporidium toruloides was used as a model enzyme. The optimal screened SAP (LPHWHPHSHLQP) was selected from a M13 phage display peptide library and fused to the C-terminal of DAAO to obtain fused DAAOs with one, two and three SAP tags, respectively. The activity of DAAO-SAP-MPS was superior comparing with DAAO-2SAP-MPS and DAAO-3SAP-MPS; meanwhile DAAO-SAP-MPS shows 36% higher activity than that of DAAO-MPS. Fusion with one SAP improved the thermal stability with a 10% activity increase for immobilized DAAO-SAP-MPS compared to that of DAAO-MPS at 50 °C for 3 h. Moreover, the activity recovery of immobilized DAAO-SAP-MPS was 25% higher in operation stability assessment after six-batch conversions of cephalosporin to glutaryl-7-amino cephalosporanic acid than that of DAAO-MPS.

Synthesis of 2-Ethylhexyl Palmitate Catalyzed by Enzyme Under Microwave

2-Ethylhexyl palmitate has been prepared in organic solvents catalyzed by an immobilized lipase QLM. Microwave irradiation was used to improve the enzyme activity and shorten the reaction time. The reaction conditions under microwave have been optimized. Compared with that of the free QLM under classical heating, the immobilized QLM under microwave exhibited higher enzyme activity and the conversion could achieve 99% in about 3.0 h. Furthermore, the immobilized QLM displayed excellent reusability under microwave irradiation.