Enzymatic Synthesis of Thymol Octanoate, a Promising Hybrid Molecule

SÁNCHEZ, DANIEL ALBERTO; TONETTO, GABRIELA MARTA; FERREIRA, MARÍA LUJÁN

Catalysts

MDPI

Año: 2023 vol. 13

Interest in the synthesis and application of thymol estershas increased in recent years due to the numerous applications associated withits biological activities. The enzymatic synthesis of thymol octanoate byesterification of thymol and octanoic acid was explored using soluble lipases andimmobilized lipase biocatalysts in solvent-free systems. Candida antarcticalipase B in its soluble form was the most active biocatalyst for this reaction.Different thymol and lipase feeding strategies were evaluated to maximizethymol octanoate production. The results suggest that there could be lipaseinhibition by the ester product of the reaction. In this way, the optimalreaction condition was given using a thymol/acid molar ratio of 1:4 mol/mol. Underthese conditions the conversion of thymol was close to 94% and the lipasemaintained more than 90% of its initial activity after the reaction, showingthe potential of the enzyme to be used in successive reaction cycles.