Enzymatic Synthesis of Isoamyl Acetate by Nanoconventional Techniques.

Chemical methods for the synthesis of esters require the use of high temperatures in the presence of chemical catalysts resulting in undesirable by-products. To avoid these problems the use of biocatalysis can lead to greener products. The aim of this papar is to study the synergism of enzyme catalysis with unconventional techniques suc as microwave or ultrasound assited processes. The effect of different reaction parameters, such as temperature, enzyme loading, ultrasonic amplitude and duty cycle, on the enzymatic synthesis of isoamyl acetate has been evaluated. To highlight the efficiency of unconventional techniques, experiments using conventional methods were also performed. The concetrations of isoamyl acetate obtained by unconventional methods were higher than those achieved under conventional heating, as 478 mgester/gmixture was obtained with ultrasounds in 1 h using 25g/L of enzyme loading, at 50°C as compared to 387 mgester/gmixture by conventional methods. Mild process conditions and using green techniques (microwaves and ultrasounds) make the biocatalytic procedure a useful way to synthetise esters with application on food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]