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China Surfactant Detergent & Cosmetics ›› 2018, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (4): 210-215.doi: 10.13218/j.cnki.csdc.2018.04.006

• Development and application • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Enzymatic synthesis of esters in stirring-free Pickering emulsions

BAI Pei-ling, YOU Xue-rui, HAO Ya-juan, ZHANG Xiao-ming, YANG Heng-quan   

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,Shanxi University,Taiyuan,Shanxi 030006,China
  • Received:2018-02-09 Published:2019-03-18

Abstract: To solve the problems currently in enzymatic reactions (such as low efficiency and the destruction of enzyme structure induced by stirring),a novel strategy of stirring-free two-phase enzymatic reaction was developed.In this strategy,the conventional two-phase enzymatic reaction was altered by a system of water-in-oil (W/O) Pickering emulsion in which a small amount of interfacial-active solid particles were used as emulsifier.In this system,a Burkholderia Cepacia lipase (BCL) enzyme was packaged within micron-sized water droplets,while organic substrates were dissolved in oil phase (outside the droplets).The experimental results show that,the reaction efficiency of BCL-catalyzed transesterification is obviously higher in the stirring-free Pickering emulsion than in the conventional two-phase system under stirring.The reasons may be that the droplets of Pickering emulsion have a large area of reaction interface and a short distance for molecular diffusion.In addition,it is found that the specific activity of enzyme depends on the size of water droplets,indicative of the importance of droplets in the reaction system.Moreover,effective recycling of BCL enzyme can be simply realized through demulsification by centrifugation.After 6 reaction cycles,the conversion is still as high as 86%,probably due to the avoidance of stirring that may cause damage to the three-dimensional structure of enzyme.This study demonstrates that the Pickering emulsion is an innovative platform for efficient enzyme-catalyzed transesterification without stirring or immobilization.

Key words: Pickering emulsion, two-phase catalysis, enzymatic reaction, transesterification, additives of skin-care cosmetics

CLC Number: 

  • O648.2+3