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Solvent‐free enzymatic synthesis of fatty alkanolamides
Author(s) -
Tufvesson Pär,
Annerling Annika,
HattiKaul Rajni,
Adlercreutz Dietlind
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.21258
Subject(s) - candida antarctica , chemistry , amine gas treating , lipase , lauric acid , yield (engineering) , organic chemistry , immobilized enzyme , fatty acid , solvent , amide , biocatalysis , enzyme , catalysis , chromatography , ionic liquid , materials science , metallurgy
An environmentally benign and volume efficient process for enzymatic production of alkanolamides is described. Immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B, Novozym®435, was used to catalyze the condensation of lauric acid with monoethanolamine. The reaction temperature of 90°C was required to keep the reactants in a liquid state. Stepwise addition of the amine minimized problems caused by the formation of a highly viscous amine/fatty acid ion‐pair. The enzyme was both very active and stable under the reaction conditions, with about half of the activity remaining after 2 weeks. The maximum amide yield obtained when using equimolar amounts of the reactants was 75%, which could be increased to 95% upon water removal. Special precautions to avoid co‐distillation of the amine were required. Two different strategies to avoid the amine loss are presented. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;97: 447–453. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.