Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) are a thermally stable, biodegradable, inexpensive, and tunable class of green solvents that have been used for extraction, electropolishing, and some syntheses. The use of DES in biocatalytic synthesis, however, has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, choline chloride:urea and <i>Candida </i><i>antarctica</i> lipase B (CALB) were used as the stationary phase in the biphasic esterification of 1-octanol and vinyl acetate to octyl acetate. The goal was to establish the reaction parameters of vessel assembly, temperature, and reaction time. Within each treatment, stirring and 2 hours resulted in the highest relative product concentrations (1444.76 ppm, 2956.33 ppm, respectively), and only marginal gains in product concentration were seen at temperatures higher than 45 °C (1231.31 ppm). This study provides evidence for the use of DES as a solvent in biphasic, biocatalytic esterification.

Deep eutectic solvents as medium for biphasic biocatalytic esterification

251st National Meeting (2016)

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