Lipases, transesterification reactions

One of the most important characteristics of IL is its wide temperature range for the liquid phase with no vapor pressure, so next we tested the lipase-catalyzed reaction under reduced pressure. It is known that usual methyl esters are not suitable for lipase-catalyzed transesterification as acyl donors because reverse reaction with produced methanol takes place. However, we can avoid such difficulty when the reaction is carried out under reduced pressure even if methyl esters are used as the acyl donor, because the produced methanol is removed immediately from the reaction mixture and thus the reaction equilibrium goes through to produce the desired product. To realize this idea, proper choice of the acyl donor ester was very important. The desired reaction was accomplished using methyl phenylth-ioacetate as acyl donor. Various methyl esters can also be used as acyl donor for these reactions methyl nonanoate was also recommended and efficient optical resolution was accomplished. Using our system, we demonstrated the completely recyclable use of lipase. The transesterification took place smoothly under reduced pressure at 10 Torr at 40°C when 0.5 equivalent of methyl phenylthioacetate was used as acyl donor, and we were able to obtain this compound in optically pure form. Five repetitions of this process showed no drop in the reaction rate (Fig. 4). Recently Kato reported nice additional examples of lipase-catalyzed reaction based on the same idea that CAL-B-catalyzed esterification or amidation of carboxylic acid was accomplished under reduced pressure conditions. ... 

In this communication a study of the catalytic behavior of the immobilized Rhizomucor miehei lipase in the transesterification reaction to biodiesel production has been reported. The main drawbacks associated to the current biodiesel production by basic homogeneous catalysis could be overcome by using immobilized lipases. Immobilization by adsorption and entrapment have been used as methods to prepare the heterogeneous biocatalyst. Zeolites and related materials have been used as inorganic lipase supports. To promote the enzyme adsorption, the surface of the supports have been functionalized by synthesis procedures or by post-treatments. While, the enzyme entrapping procedure has been carried out by sol-gel method in order to obtain the biocatalyst protected by a mesoporous matrix and to reduce its leaching after several catalytic uses. 

Table 2. Catalytic activity of the immobilized lipase in the transesterification reaction of triolein with methanol (18 hours of reaction, 40°C, trioleimmethanol molar ratio 1 3).

In a lipase-catalyzed reaction, the acyl group of the ester is transferred to the hydroxyl group of the serine residue to form the acylated enzyme. The acyl group is then transferred to an external nucleophile with the return of the enzyme to its preacylated state to restart the catalytic cycle. A variety of nucleophiles can participate in this process. For example, reaction in the presence of water results in hydrolysis, reaction in alcohol results in esterification or transesterification, and reaction in amine results in amination. Kirchner et al.3 reported that it was possible to use hydrolytic enzymes under conditions of limited moisture to catalyze the formation of esters, and this is now becoming very popular for the resolution of alcohols.4... 

Irreversible Transesterification. A new preparation of chiral glycerol acetonide (2,2-dimethyl-l,3-dioxolane-4-methanol) involving an enantioselective hydrolysis of 2-0-benzylycerol diacetate to the (R)-monoacetate catalyzed by a lipoprotein lipase (47) has recently been developed. In an effort to prepare the (S)-enantiomer, we have used the aforementioned irreversible transesterification reaction using isopropenyl acetate as an acylating reagent, which upon reaction gives acetone as a... 

In a similar investigation, transesterification reactions of vinyl acetate with alcohols in [BMIM]BF4 and [BMIM]PF6 in the presence of immobilized lipases CALB and PS-C were found to proceed with higher enantioselectivities than in THF or toluene, with the best result again being observed with [BMIM]PF6 (280). 

Solvent effects in lipase-catalysed transesterification reactions. Acta Chem. Scand., 44, 1032-1035. 

It has been demonstrated that the activity of the lipase Candida cylindracea) catalyzed transesterification reaction between methylmethacrylate and 2-ethylhexanol in... 

Lipase-catalysed esterification and transesterification reactions have a wide range of applications in the synthesis of aroma compounds. 

Early reports on the effects of the choice of solvent on enzymatic enantioselectivity showed that substantial changes may be observed. For the transesterification reaction of sec-phenethyl alcohol with vinyl butyrate catalyzed by subtilisin Carlsberg, a 20-fold increase in the E-value was reported when the medium was changed from acetonitrile to dioxane [59]. Similar changes were recorded for the prochiral selectivity of Pseudomonas sp. lipase in the hydrolysis of 2-substituted... 

Lipases, which are noted for their tolerance of organic solvents, were obvious candidates for biocatalysis in ionic liquids. Indeed, stable microbial lipases, such as CaLB [8, 54, 55, 56] and Pseudomonas cepacia lipase (PcL) [28, 55, 57] were cat-alytically active in the ionic liquids of the l-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium and 1-alkylpyridinium families, in combination with anions such as [BF4], [PF6], [TfO] and [ Tf2N]. Early results were not always consistent, which may be caused by impurities that result from the preparation of the ionic liquid. Lipase-mediated transesterification reactions (Figure 10.3) in these ionic liquids proceeded with an efficiency comparable to that in tert-butyl alcohol [8], dioxane [57], or toluene... 

Porcine pancreatic lipase catalyzes the transesterification reaction between tribu-tyrin and various primary and secondary alcohols in a 99% organic medium (Zaks, 1984). Upon further dehydration, the enzyme becomes extremely thermostable. Not only can the dry lipase withstand heating at 100 °C for many hours, but it exhibits a high catalytic activity at that temperature. Reduction in water content also alters the substrate specificity of the lipase in contrast to its wet counterpart, the dry enzyme does not react with bulky tertiary alcohols. 

Based on the very different behaviors of lipases A (CAL-A) and B (CAL-B) from Candida antarctica towards polyfunctional compounds in non-aqueous media, Liljeblad et al82 reported a novel lipase-catalyzed method for the resolution of A -heterocyclic amino esters using methyl pipecolinate 69 as a model compound. For this purpose, the chemo-and enantioselective alcoholysis and transesterification reaction of 69 in the presence of CAL-B and the A-acylations using CAL-A were studied, (cf. fig. 37 and 38). 

Liljeblad, A. Lindborg, J. Kanerva, A. Katajisto, J. Kanerva, L. T. Enantioselective lipase-catalyzed reactions of methyl pipecolinate transesterification and N-acylation. Tetrahedron Letters 2002, 43, 2471-2474. 

Moreover, lipase-catalyzed reactions of linear and cyclic poly(3-hydroxy-butanoates) were subjected to hydrolysis, transesterification, and intramolecular esterification. A cyclic polymer along with linear polymers was pro-... 

We conclude that a commercial immobilized lipase from C. antarctica (Novozym 435) was stable in SCC02 for all experimental conditions investigated. Based on the results obtained here and comparison of them with the results obtained by other investigators, it can be concluded that the magnitude of pressure, temperature, decompression rate, and exposure time needed to inactivate the enzyme strongly depends on the nature and the source of enzyme and, primarily, whether the enzyme is in its native or immobilized form. For the purpose of using this enzyme to catalyze the transesterification reaction of vegetable oils in order to produce esters, the results obtained herein are relevant, because the immobilized lipase can be used with low activity loss at typical conditions of temperature and pressure employed in many biotransformations of raw materials. 

Lipase-catalyzed polycondensation and transesterification reactions are the subjects of intensive research activities but polyesters of low molecular weight are obtained by this technique [45-52]. 

While diketene remains a very important synthetic precursor, there has been increasing interest in the chemistry of a-methylene-/3-lactones, 3-methylene-2-oxetanones. However, unlike diketene, which can be readily synthesized by the dimerization of aldehydic ketenes, there are few methods for the synthesis of a-methylene-/3-lactones in the literature. Recent strategies for the preparation of the compounds are discussed in Section 2.05.9.2. The kinetic resolution of racemates of alkyl-substituted a-methylene-/3-lactones has been carried out via a lipase-catalyzed transesterification reaction with benzyl alcohol (Equation 21) <1997TA833>. The most efficient lipase tested for this reaction was CAL-B (from Candida antarctica), which selectively transesterifies the (A)-lactone. At 51% conversion, the (R)-f3-lactone, (R)-74, and (A)-/3-hydroxy ester, (S)-75, were formed in very high enantio-selectivities (up to 99% ee). 

The transesterification reaction can be catalyzed by enzymes, the most common being the lipase. The reaction takes place at normal pressure and temperatures 50 to 55 °C with low energy consumption. The yield of methanolysis depends on several factors as temperature, pH, type of micro-organism producing the enzyme, the use of cosolvents, etc. However, low yields in methyl esters and very long reaction times make the enzymatic processes not competitive enough at this time [9, 11, 17]. 

Ma, L., Persson, M., Aldercreutz, P. 2002. Water activity dependence of lipase catalysis in organic media explains successful transesterification reactions. Enz. Microb. Technol. 31, 1024-1029. 

Microemulsions are used as reaction media for a variety of chemical reactions. The aqueous droplets of water-in-oil micro emulsions can be regarded as minireactors for the preparation of nanoparticles of metals and metal salts and particles of the same size as the starting microemulsion droplets can be obtained [1-3]. Polymerisation in micro emulsions is an efficient way to prepare nanolatexes and also to make polymers of very high molecular weight. Both discontinuous and bicontinuous micro emulsions have been used for the purpose [4]. Microemulsions are also of interest as media for enzymatic reactions. Much work has been done with lipase-catalysed reactions and water-in-oil microemulsions have been found suitable for ester synthesis and hydrolysis, as well as for transesterification [5,6]. 

In the food industry, lipases are used in lipid modification processes. In these processes the texture, digestibility, or physical properties of natural lipids are modified by lipase-catalyzed transesterification reactions with lipids other than the original fatty acids. In the baking industry, lipases are used to influence the quality of bread through modification of the wheat flour lipids. Finally lipases are used for flavor enhancement of cheese in the dairy industry. 

In the interesterification of fats, 1,3-positional specific lipases catalyze reactions in which only the fatty acids in the a-positions of the triglycerides take part, whereas positional nonspecific lipases are able to catalyze reactions in which the fatty acids from both the a- and / -positions take part. In transesterification between two types of fat, the positional non-specific lipase is therefore able to randomize the fatty acids, resulting in the same fatty acid composition in the triglycerides as obtained in the commercially important chemical randomization process. In ester synthesis, positional non-specific lipases catalyze the reaction with both primary and secondary alcohols whereas positional specific lipases are more or less specific for primary alcohols. 

Acyloxygen fission (63 64), e.g., propiolactone reacts with MeOH, H+ to give 64 (Nu = OMe). A Pseudomonas sp. lipase-promoted asymmetric transesterification reaction allows kinetic resolution of racemic 2-oxetanones <2000J(PI)71>. 

In the last few years increasing attention has been devoted to conducting bio-catalytic transformations in ionic liquids [104-107]. The first report of enzyme-(lipase-) catalyzed reactions in water-free ionic liquids dates from 2000 and involved transesterification, ammoniolysis and perhydrolysis reactions catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B (Fig. 7.32) [108]. 

H. H., Scheper, T Kolisis, F.N. (1993), Factors affecting the lipase catalyzed transesterification reactions of 3-hydroxy esters in organic solvents, Tetrahedron Asymmetry 4, 1007 -1016. 

The resulting dynamic nitroaldol system was subsequently challenged with lipase-catalyzed transesterification reactions using different lipases and operational... 

Prochiral Compounds. The enantiodifferentiation of prochi-ral compounds by lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis and transesterification reactions is fairly common, with prochiral 1,3-diols most frequently employed as substrates. Recent reports of asymmetric hydrolysis include diesters of 2-substituted 1,3-propanediols and 2-0-protected glycerol derivatives. The asymmetric transesterification of prochiral diols such as 2-0-benzylglycerol and various other 2-substituted 1,3-propanediol derivatives is also fairly common, most frequently with Vinyl Acetate as an irreversible acyl transfer agent. 

Meso Compounds. Although pig liver esterase is by far the most suitable enzyme for asymmetric transformations involving meso compounds, especially diacids, there are several reports on the lipase-catalyzed hydrolysis and transesterification reactions of cyclic diol derivatives. The former includes variously substituted cycloalkene diacetates, cyclohexylidene protected erythri-tol diacetate, piperidine derivatives, and the exo-acetonide in eq 11. Complementary results are clearly demonstrated in eq 11 and eq 12 for the hydrolysis and esterification processes. 

---