Kinetics of Enantiomerically Enriched Synthesis of Solketal Esters Using Native and SBA-15 supported P. Fluorescens Lipase

The studies showed that alkaline lipase from Pseudomonas fluorescens enables an irreversible transesterification of vinyl esters to give enantiomeric excess (eeR) of about 80% using vinyl butyrate as acyl donor and diisopropyl ether as a solvent, at partially optimized conditions. For the native lipase the process was adequately described by a five-parameter Ping-Pong Bi Bi model for both enantiomers plus expression accounting for the formation of enzyme-acyl donor complex, but for the same lipase supported on mesoporous materials of SBA-15-Oc type, R-product inhibition also had to be taken into account. The use of hydrophobic support increased by more than two-fold the rate of the S-solketal conversion but even more that of R-solketal. Thus the immobilization of lipase had very positive effect on the process kinetics but decreased its enantioselectivity

MsAcT in siliceous monolithic microreactors enables quantitative ester synthesis in water

Acyltransferase from Mycobacterium smegmatis (MsAcT) immobilised in continuous-flow microchannel (30-50 ?m dia.) reactors with hierarchical pore structure (4 cm3/g total pore volume) enabled quantitative, full and rapid transesterification of neopentylglycol with ethyl acetate in a biphasic 50/50 % system in less than one minute. MsAcT was attached either covalently via amino groups or by a specific His-tag-mediated adsorption on Ni or Co sites. Both methods gave similar results for enzyme loading (ca.3 mg/g of carrier, 60-70 % immobilisation yield) and specific activity. The experiments revealed that the rate of monoester formation in the microreactor was exceedingly fast compared to that of diester synthesis and also the native enzyme behaviour in batch reactor. The studies show that the course of transesterification was fully controlled by biocatalytic properties of MsAcT confined in the mesoporous environment. These findings may be of significant interest from both fundamental and practical perspective.BiotechnologyApplied Science