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

Dragana P.C. de Barros (1) , Luís Fonseca (1) , Joaquim M. S. Cabral (1) , Clemens K Weiss (2) , Katharina Landfester (2)

1 IBB - Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering
2 Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research

The main objective of this work was to study and test the nature and influence of reaction media (organic solvent vs. miniemulsion system) on the synthesis of alkyl esters 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 cutinase presents rates of esterification after one hour between 0.24 μmolmg-1min-1 for ethyl oleate and 1.15 μmolmg-1min-1 for ethyl butyrate, while in miniemulsion system were from 0.05 μmolmg-1min-1 for ethyl heptanoate to 0.76 μmolmg-1min-1 for ethyl decanoate . Rate of reaction for synthesis of hexyl ester in miniemulsion system was from 0.19 μmolmg-1min-1 for hexyl heptanoate to 1.07 μmolmg-1min-1 for hexyl decanoate. High conversion yields of 95 % at equilibrium after 8h of reaction in iso-octane for pentanoic acid (C5) with ethanol at equimolar concentration (0.1M) was achieved. Additionally, this work also shows surprising that was occurred a significant and unexpected change in cutinase selectivity for longer chain length carboxylic acids (C8 - C10) in miniemulsion system in relation to C4 – C6, observed in this work for organic solvent (iso-octane) and previously in reversed micellar system.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Dragana P.C. de Barros, Luís Fonseca, Joaquim M. S. Cabral, Clemens K Weiss, Katharina Landfester. Synthesis of alkyl esters by cutinase in miniemulsion and organic solvent media. Biotechnology Journal, 2009, 4 (6), pp.674-n/a. ⟨10.1002/biot.200800294⟩. ⟨hal-00480830⟩