Abstract: Monolaurin was prepared by glycerolysis of trilaurin with lipase as the catalyst and t-butanol as solvent.Optimization of the reaction process was conducted based upon single factor tests and adopting response surface methodology.The results showed that water content (mass fraction referring to glycerol) is the most significant factor on the yield of monolaurin.The suitable conditions are as follows:rotation speed of the oscillator,100 r/min;enzyme dosage,5% (based on the amount of total substrates,trilaurin and glycerol);molar ratio (glycerol to trilaurin),6∶1;mass fraction of the total substrates,51.9% (referring to the total amount of all reactants and solvent);reaction temperature,65 ℃;water content,4.23%;and reaction time,5 h.The experimental yield of monolaurin achieves 81.32% under the aforesaid conditions,which is well in conformity with the predicted value of 81.68%.Therefore,the regression model shows good predictability.

Key words: monolaurin, glycerolysis, response surface methodology, enzymatic synthesis