Lipase-catalyzed esterification of lactic acid with straight-chain alcohols

Enzymatic synthesis of esters of lactic acid and straight-chain alcohols with different chain lengths (C₆–C₁₈) were investigated in batch reactions with hexadecanol (C₁₆) as the model alcohol. Cyclohexane was the best solvent for higher ester yields, and the best biocatalyst was the immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) as well as the textile-immobilized Candida sp. lipase. A method was established to obtain ester yields in the range of 71 to 82% for the different alcohols, and the most favorable conditions for the esterification reaction using Novozym 435 were an equimolar ratio of lactic acid to alcohol, each at a concentration of 120 mM each; a 50°C reaction temperature; 190 rpm shaking speed; and the addition of 100 mg molecular sieves (4 Å) for drying. The ester yield increased with increasing lipase load, and a yield of 79.2% could be obtained after 24 h of reaction at 20 wt% of Novozym 435. The immobilized Candida sp. lipase prepared in the laboratory also could be used to produce esters of lactic acid and straight-chain alcohols, but it had a much lower activity than Novozym 435 with a temperature optimum of 40°C.     

Molecular modeling and experimental verification of lipase-catalyzed enantioselective esterification of racemic naproxen in supercritical carbon dioxide

Experimental and simulation analyses were performed on the lipase-catalyzed esterification reaction of racemic naproxen by CALB (candida antarctica lipase B) enzyme in supercritical carbon dioxide. The reaction pathways were investigated by quantum mechanical analysis, and the enantioselectivity of the products was predicted by molecular dynamics simulation analysis. Calculated results from molecular modeling in supercritical carbon dioxide were qualitatively compared with experimental data by using racemic naproxen as a substrate. All molecular modeling results and experimental data were acquired and compared with those in ambient and supercritical condition. Moreover, to verify the stability of enzymatic reaction in each solvent condition, reaction pathways were investigated in several solvent conditions (vacuum, water, hexane and supercritical carbon dioxide), and the stability of enzymatic reaction in supercritical carbon dioxide was compared with other solvent conditions. This paper is dedicated to Professor Chul Soo Lee on the occasion of his retirement from Korea University.     

Lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis of cod liver oil in supercritical carbon dioxide

Enzymatic alcoholysis of cod liver oil, with an immobilized lipase, was carried out in supercritical carbon dioxide. The enzyme was catalytically active under the experimental conditions used. The reaction medium was investigated to preferentially extract ethyl esters, synthesized during the course of the experiment, from the unconverted cod liver oil substrate and side-products. The effect of pressure changes on the amount of tri-, di-, and monoglycerides and ethyl esters, present in both the extract and the remaining lipid residue, was determined. Furthermore, the fatty acid compositions of the lipid classes were analyzed, and the relative amounts of both eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid to palmitic acid were determined. The results show that it is possible to preferentially extract the synthesized ethyl esters at low pressures. The extract collected at 9 MPa contained 64 g ethyl esters/100 g extract, while the total amount of all other lipid classes detected was 19 g/100 g extract. As the pressure was increased, the relative amount of the other lipid classes detected in the extract, especially triglycerides, was enhanced. The relative amounts of both eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid to palmitic acid increased for some lipid classes in the extract. This increase was most pronounced for the monoglyceride lipid class. The integration of biocatalysis and product fractionation, applied in this study, suggests that the potential for biocatalysis in industrial processes is considerably wider than had been thought.     

Lipase-catalyzed esterification of stearic acid with ethanol, and hydrolysis of ethyl stearate, near the critical point in supercritical carbon dioxide

The effect of pressure on the lipase-catalyzed reaction in supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) was investigated for the esterification of steric acid (SA) with ethanol and the hydrolysis of ethyl stearate (ES) near the critical point, ranging from 6 to 20 MPa in pressure and 35 to 60°C in temperature. The esterification rate of SA began to increase near the critical point and kept increasing steadily with an increase in pressure, reflecting the increase in SA solubility in SCCO₂. The hydrolysis rate of ES showed a maximum at a pressure near the critical point. When the reaction was carried out with an initial overall ES concentration below its solubility limit in SCCO₂, the maximum pressure shifted along the extended line of the gas-liquid equilibrium in the supercritical region in the pressure-temperature phase plane. This seems to be related to the singular behavior of some properties in SCCO₂ along this line reported in the literature. These results show the importance of pressure, as well as temperature, as a parameter to control enzyme reactions in SCCO₂.     

Lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction 2: Phase behavior

The phase behavior of systems containing ethanol plus lipid samples with different lipid compositions plus carbon dioxide was studied visually at 40°C and pressures of 0.01, 9, 15, and 23 MPa by means of a high-pressure sapphire cell. The systems studied represent the main components present in a lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis reaction of cod liver oil in supercritical carbon dioxide. Two phases, a vapor and a liquid phase, were observed in all systems studied at supercritical conditions.     

Cross-linking polymerization of acrylic acid in supercritical carbon dioxide

Cross-linking polymerization of acrylic acid in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) was studied in a batch reactor at 50 °C and 207 bar with either triallyl pentaerythritol ether or tetraallyl pentaerythritol ether as the cross-linker and with 2,2′-azobis(2,4-dimethyl-valeronitrile) as the free radical initiator. All polymers were white, dry, fine powders. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the morphology of the polymer particles was not affected by cross-linking. As the cross-linker concentration was increased, the polymer glass transition temperature first decreased, then increased. Water-soluble and water-insoluble polymers were synthesized by adjusting the cross-linker concentration. Viscosity measurements showed that the polymer thickening effect strongly depended on the degree of cross-linking. Finally, cross-linking polymerization of acrylic acid in scCO₂ was carried out in a continuous stirred tank reactor. The use of cross-linker decreased the monomer conversion in this system.     

Artificial Neural Network modeling of solubility of supercritical carbon dioxide in 24 commonly used ionic liquids

Application of supercritical CO₂ for separation of ionic liquids from their organic solvents or extraction of various solutes from ionic liquid solvents have found great interest during recent years. Knowledge of phase behaviors of the mixtures of supercritical CO₂+ionic liquids is therefore drastic in order to efficiently design such separation processes. In this communication, Artificial Neural Network procedure has been applied to represent the solubility of supercritical CO₂ in 24 mostly used ionic liquids. An optimized Three-Layer Feed Forward Neural Network using critical properties of ionic liquids and operational temperature and pressure has been developed. Application of this model for 1128 data points of 24 ionic liquids show squared correlation coefficients of 0.993 and average absolute deviation of 3.6% from experimental values for calculated/estimated solubilities. The aforementioned deviations show the prediction capability of the presented model.     

Selectivity enhancement in the catalytic heterogeneous hydrogenation of limonene in supercritical carbon dioxide by an ionic liquid

Ionic liquids as coated catalysts or additives tremendously alter the selectivity pattern of the heterogeneous solid catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of limonene. The conventional monometallic ruthenium over alumina catalyst combined with an ionic liquid enables the one-pot synthesis of the intermediate p-menthene through limonene hydrogenation in supercritical carbon dioxide. Among eight screened imidazolium ILs, [C₁₀mim]NTf₂ was employed as additive, or as the coating agent of ruthenium catalyst in the reaction under supercritical conditions.The coating of the heterogeneous catalyst allows the selective production of p-menthene and increases the conversion level of limonene (>99%) compared to the conversion of limonene in the reaction carried out in the presence of an ionic liquid as an additive. Results of the catalyst recycling indicate that there is no depletion of catalyst reactivity even after four successive cycles of operation under the studied reaction conditions. Further hydrogenation of p-menthene is strongly inhibited by employing an ionic liquid. The solubility of limonene or p-menthene in an ionic liquid governs the selective hydrogenation of limonene towards p-menthene.     

Effect of moisture content on immobilized lipase-catalyzed triacylglycerol hydrolysis under supercritical carbon dioxide flow in a tubular fixed-bed reactor

Surplus fats and oils were reacted with several lipases under supercritical fluid conditions for the purpose of obtaining value-added products. Lipases, however, require sufficient moisture content to act as effective biocatalysts. An immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica was chosen to examine the rate of enzyme moisture loss under laboratory ambient conditions and also under supercritical fluid conditions. A more important aspect was to determine the effect of lipase moisture content on the hydrolysis of triacylglycerols under the same supercritical fluid conditions. Under ambient conditions at constant air flow, the immobilized lipase lost water at the rate of 4 to 5%/h, from 48.3% moisture to a final moisture content of 0.2%. Water is known not to be very soluble in supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂). Nevertheless, under supercritical fluid conditions of 60°C, 4000 psi, and carbon dioxide flow rates of 0.5 or 1 L/min measured as expanded gas, the enzyme moisture loss was approximately 2 to 6%/h. To determine the effect of moisture loss on enzymatic hydrolysis, lipase beds in a tubular reactor with moisture contents of 1.5 to 23.5% were reacted with tripalmitin under supercritical conditions. A lipase with an initial moisture content of 1.5% gave little evidence of hydrolysis whereas those containing 5.4 to 23.5% moisture content resulted in products that contained only palmitic acid and unreacted tripalmitin. Thus, optimal parameters for continuous lipase hydrolysis of tripalmitin require: enough enzyme moisture to compensate for complete substrate hydrolysis; sufficient enzyme moisture for losses due to water solubility in SC-CO₂; temperature and pressure sufficient to solubilize the tripalmitin; high carbon dioxide total flow to solubilize all the tripalmitin; and a relatively large enzyme bed volume to increase the solubilized substrate contact time with the enzyme.     

Lipase-catalyzed randomization of fats and oils in flowing supercritical carbon dioxide

Enzymes can frequently impart more selectivity to a reaction than chemical catalysts. In addition, the use of enzymes can reduce side reactions and simplify post-reaction separation problems. In combination with an environmentally benign and safe medium, such as supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂), enzymatic catalysis makes supercritical fluids extremely attractive to the food industry. In this study, randomization of fats and oils was accomplished with an immobilized lipase in flowing SC-CO₂. Triglycerides, adsorbed onto Celite, are solubilized in CO₂ and carried over 1–10 g immobilized lipase derived from Candida antarctica. The degree of randomization and rate of triglyceride throughput could be controlled by CO₂ pressure and flow rate and quantity of enzyme used. The dropping points and solid fat indices of the resulting randomized oils were compared to oils that were randomized by conventional methods with sodium methoxide. Reversed-phase high-performance chromatography with flame-ionization detection was used to quantitate changes in triglyceride composition of various substrates, such as palm olein and high-stearate soybean oil. The resultant randomized oil mixtures have properties, e.g., solid fat index, that make them potential candidates for incorporation into traditional margarine formulations.     

Lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction 1: Influence of flow rate

A combined process of lipase (E.C. 3.1.1.3) catalysis and extraction of product with supercritical carbon dioxide was studied. The effect of different flow rates of the extraction fluid on the selective removal of the ethyl esters (EE) synthesized in a lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis of cod liver oil with ethanol was investigated. The faster the flow rate, the faster the extraction rate and the higher the recovery of EE. For example, after a 270-min extraction, the total recovery of EE was 1520 mg for a flow rate of 0.3 liter carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure and room temperature/min (NL/min) as compared to 250 mg when 0.015 NL/min was used. The concentration of EE in the carbon dioxide was found to decrease with increasing flow rate, which indicates that the rate of diffusion of EE limits their extraction at fast flow rates. A high flow rate was found to result in a more selective extraction of EE, i.e., less amounts of other lipid components present in the reaction mixture were coextracted with the EE. Further, by increasing the flow rate, the equilibrium of the reaction was shifted slightly toward ester synthesis. An increase in the flow rate from 0.015 to 0.075 NL/min resulted in an approximately 10% increase in total conversion (from 73 to 82%), whereas only a negligible increase was obtained when the flow rate was increased further to 0.15 NL/min.     

Polymerization of acrylonitrile in supercritical carbon dioxide

A series of fluorinated diblock copolymers, consisting of styrene (St)-acrylonitrile (AN) copolymer [poly(St-co-AN)] and poly-2-[(perfluorononenyl)oxy]ethyl methacrylate, with various compositions as well as with different molecular weights were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization and characterized. Dispersion polymerization of acrylonitrile in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) at 30 MPa and at 65 °C with this kind of amphiphilic block copolymer as a stabilizer and 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator was investigated. The experimental results indicated that, in the presence of a small amount of poly(St-co-AN) (5 wt% to AN), spherical particles of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were prepared with small diameter and narrow polydispersity (d_n = 153 nm, d_w/d_n = 1.12), resulting from the high stabilizing efficiency of this fluorinated block copolymer. Furthermore, the polymerization of AN in scCO₂ under different initial pressures especially under low pressure (<14 MPa) was studied. When the polymerization was carried out around the critical pressure of CO₂ (7.7-7.8 MPa), the PANs with high molecular weight (M_ν ≈ 130,000-194,000) were synthesized at high monomer conversion (>90%) no matter whether the stabilizer was added, compared to those synthesized by dispersion polymerization at 30 MPa. It was also found that the crystallinity of PAN synthesized at 7.7-7.8 MPa was somewhat higher than that synthesized at 30 MPa, while its crystallite size did not change.     

Lipase-catalyzed glycerolysis of soybean oil in supercritical carbon dioxide

The transesterification of soybean oil with glycerol, 1,2-propanediol, and methanol by an immobilized lipase in flowing supercritical carbon dioxide for the synthesis of monoglycerides is described. A lipase from Candida antarctica was used to catalyze the reaction of soybean oil with glycerol, 1,2-propanediol, ethylene glycol, and methanol. Reactions were performed in supercritical carbon dioxide at a density of 0.72 g/L and at a flow rate of 6 μL/min (expanded gas). The substrates were added at flows ranging from 2.5 to 100 μL/min. Monoglycerides were obtained at up to 87 wt%, and fatty acid methyl esters at nearly 100 wt%. The reactivity of the alcohols paralleled the solubility of the substrate in liquid carbon dioxide. Glycerol has the slowest reaction rate, only 2% of that of methanol.     

Solubility prediction of disperse dyes in supercritical carbon dioxide and ethanol as co-solvent using neural network

Nowadays artificial neural networks(ANNs) with strong ability have been applied widely for prediction of nonlinear phenomenon. In this work an optimized ANN with 7 inputs that consist of temperature, pressure, critical temperature, critical pressure, density, molecular weight and acentric factor has been used for solubility prediction of three disperse dyes in supercritical carbon dioxide(SC-CO2) and ethanol as co-solvent. It was shown how a multi-layer perceptron network can be trained to represent the solubility of disperse dyes in SC-CO2. Numeric Sensitivity Analysis and Garson equation were utilized to find out the degree of effectiveness of different input variables on the efficiency of the proposed model. Results showed that our proposed ANN model has correlation coefficient, Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient and discrepancy ratio about 0.998, 0.992, and 1.053 respectively.     

Reactive extraction of succinic acid using supercritical carbon dioxide

Reactive extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) and tri-n-octylamine (TOA) was evaluated as a separation method of succinic acid from an aqueous solution. The reactive extraction of succinic acid was performed at varying initial acid concentrations in aqueous solution (0.07–0.45 mol?dm^?3), temperature (35–65°C) and pressure (8–16 MPa). The succinic acid separation was conducted in both batch mode and semi-continuous mode. The highest reactive extraction efficiency of approx. 62% was obtained for the process conducted in semi-continuous mode at 35°C and 16 MPa for the initial acid concentrations in aqueous phase of 0.39 mol?dm^?3.     

Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of structured triacylglycerides from 1,3-diacylglycerides

A new method for the lipase-catalyzed synthesis of structured TAG (ST) is described. First, sn1,3-dilaurin or-dicaprylin were enzymatically synthesized using different published methods. Next, these were esterified at the sn2-position with oleic acid or its vinyl ester using different lipases. Key to successful enzymatic synthesis of ST was the choice of a lipase with appropriate FA specificity, i.e., one that does not act on the FA already present in the sn1,3-DAG, but that at the same time exhibits high selectivity and activity toward the FA to be introduced. Reactions were performed in the presence of organic solvents or in solvent-free systems under reduced pressure. With this strategy, mixed ST containing the desired compounds 1,3-dicaprylol-2-oleyl-glycerol or 1,3-dilauroyl-2-oleyl-glycerol (CyOCy or LaOLa) were obtained at 87 and 78 mol% yield, respectively, using immobilized lipases from Burkholderia cepacia (Amano PS-D) in n-hexane at 60°C. However, regiospecific analysis with porcine pancreatic lipase indicated that in CyOCy, 25.7% caprylic acid and in LaOLa 11.1% lauric acid were located at the sn2-position. Oleic acid vinyl ester was a better acyl donor than oleic acid. Esterification of sn1,3-DAG and free oleic acid gave very low yield (<20%) of ST in a solvent system and moderate yield (>50%) in a solvent-free system under reduced pressure.     

Acetylation of plant cellulose fiber in supercritical carbon dioxide

Natural cellulosic ramie fiber was acetylated using supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO₂) as a reaction medium. The structure and properties of the acetylated fibers were investigated using infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (including synchrotron microbeam X-ray diffraction), nano-Raman scattering, and a tensile test. The acetylation reaction proceeded without using an organic solvent, and it reached to the core part of the fiber within a short period while maintaining the fiber morphology. The crystallites of cellulose triacetate II and cellulose coexist in the fiber. The acetylated fiber with an average degree of substitution of 1.9 showed high modulus (34.5 GPa) and high strength (763 MPa), which are the highest values for cellulose diacetate so far reported to date.     

pH Sensitive polypropylene porous membrane prepared by grafting acrylic acid in supercritical carbon dioxide

pH sensitive membrane was prepared by grafting acrylic acid (AA) on the porous polypropylene (PP) membrane using supercritical (SC) CO₂ as a solvent. The monomer (AA) and the initiator (benzyl peroxide, BPO) were impregnated into the PP substrate with the aid of SC CO₂, and were grafted onto the microporous PP substrate. The grafted membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and the water permeability of the virgin and grafted membranes were determined at different pH values. It was demonstrated that the grafting degree (Dg) could be easily controlled by varying operating conditions, such as the monomer concentration, pressure, and temperature during the soaking process. The water permeation of the virgin membrane is nearly independent of pH. However, the water permeation of grafted membranes decreases dramatically with pH as the pH varies from 3 to 6 because the conformation of the PAA changes significantly with the pH of the contacting solution.     

Lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis of canola oil in supercritical carbon dioxide

The effect of pressure, temperature, and CO₂ flow rale on the extent of conversion and the product composition in the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of canola oil in supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) was investigated using lipase from Mucor miehei immobilized on macroporous anionic resin (Lipozyme IM). Reactions were carried out in a continuous flow reactor at 10, 24, and 38 MPa and 35 and 55°C. Supercritical fluid chromatography was used to analyze the reaction products. A conversion of 63–67% (triglyceride disappearance) was obtained at 24–38 MPa. Mono-and diglyceride production was minimum at 10 MPa and 35°C. Monoglyceride production was favored at 24 MPa. The amount of product obtained was higher at 24–38 MPa due to enhanced solubility in SCCO₂. Complete hydrolysis of oil should be possible by increasing the enzyme load and/or decreasing the quantity of the oil substrate. There was a drop in triglyceride conversion over a 24-h reaction time at 38 MPa and 55°C, which may be an indication of loss of enzyme activity. Pressure, temperature, and CO₂ flow rate are important parameters to be optimized in the enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of canola oil in SCCO₂ to maximize its conversion to high-value products.