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Environmentally benign downstream process for the enzymatic production of 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate
Author(s) -
Xu Huifen,
Tang Luhong
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.4831
Subject(s) - stearate , chemistry , ascorbyl palmitate , ascorbic acid , organic chemistry , monoglyceride , stearic acid , nuclear chemistry , fatty acid , food science
BACKGROUND The current processes used to produce 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate are mature but far from environmentally benign. Even in the enzymatic process, a water‐washing step is still indispensable, forming a large amount of waste water. The aim of this study is to improve understanding of the behavior of the reaction mixture formed during enzymatic synthesis of ascorbyl stearate and create a novel product purification method omitting the water‐washing step. RESULTS Adding hot methyl stearate (65°C) will liquefy the solidified mixture composed of 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate, L‐ascorbic acid and methyl stearate, the filtrate of almost pure methyl stearate could be reused, and the cake gained could be washed and recrystallized from ethyl acetate at 4°C to gain the pure 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate. The single recovery rate of 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate is 66.0%, the purity of it is 99.8% detected by LC / MS . CONCLUSION Taking advantage of the phase behavior and the solubility differences of 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate, L‐ascorbic acid and methyl stearate in ethyl acetate at different temperatures, it is possible to produce 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl stearate in an environment‐friendly way. The process developed in this study is easy to scale up and suitable for the synthesis of similar 6‐O‐L‐ascorbyl derivatives of other fatty acids, such as palmitic acid. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry