Study of Organic Solvent Hydrophobicity on Lipase Catalyzed Reaction Esterification

J. Giacometti and F. Giacometti

Abstract
The paper studies the effect of hydrophobicity of nonpolar organic solvents (cyclohexane, n-hexane and isooctane) on lipase-catalyzed esterification of glycerol with oleic acid catalysed by immobilized 1,3-specific Mucor miehei lipase. The esterification was carried out with and without molecular sieves in a batch stirred-tank reactor (BSTR). Enzyme selectivity was in function of solvent hydrophobicity and related to the system with molecular sieves, where the equilibrium was shifted toward the production of diolein.

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Keywords
Solvent hydrophobicity, lipase-catalyzed esterification, molecular sieves, long-chain fatty acid esters