Performance of Different Immobilized Lipases in the Syntheses of Short- and Long-Chain Carboxylic Acid Esters by Esterification Reactions in Organic Media.

Short-chain alkyl esters and sugar esters are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries due to their flavor and emulsifying characteristics, respectively. Both compounds can be synthesized via biocatalysis using lipases. This work aims to compare the performance of commercial lipases covalently attached to dry acrylic beads functionalized with oxirane groups (lipases from type B-IMMCALB-T2-350, -IMMAPF-T2-150, and -IMMTLL-T2-150) and a home-made biocatalyst (lipase from adsorbed onto silica coated with octyl groups, named PFL-octyl-silica) in the syntheses of short- and long-chain carboxylic acid esters.