Esters in the Food and Cosmetic Industries: An Overview of the Reactors Used in Their Biocatalytic Synthesis.

Esters are versatile compounds with a wide range of applications in various industries due to their unique properties and pleasant aromas. Conventionally, the manufacture of these compounds has relied on the chemical route. Nevertheless, this technique employs high temperatures and inorganic catalysts, resulting in undesired additional steps to purify the final product by removing solvent residues, which decreases environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.

Sustainable synthesis of branched-chain diesters.

Esters from branched alcohols and dicarboxylic linear acids are widely used as lube bases due to their good performance at low temperatures. This work proposes a new process to synthesize bis(2-ethylbutyl) adipate and bis(2-ethylbutyl) sebacate by using the lipase-based catalyst Novozym® 435 in a solvent-free system. Different reaction strategies have been tested in order to minimize 2-ethyl-1-butanol losses due to its evaporation and optimum operation conditions have been determined: 2.

Development and economic evaluation of an eco-friendly biocatalytic synthesis of emollient esters.

During the past decades the understanding and prospects of enzyme-catalysed reactions have been massively widened and there are a number of implemented large-scale enzymatic processes mainly based in the use of commercial biocatalysts. As it might happen that the same process can be successfully carried out by different commercial lipases, the election of the biocatalyst must rely on productivity and economic considerations. This work presents productiveness and direct operation cost evaluation as a key tool for the selection between two commercial lipase catalysts, the versatile but expensive Novozym 435 and a much more economical option, Lipozyme TL IM, in the synthesis of spermaceti, a mixture of emollient esters with cosmetic applications.

Biocatalytic solutions to cyclomethicones problem in cosmetics.

Silicones are polymers that have properties of great interest for cosmetic and personal care industry, especially D (octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane) and D (decamethylcyclopentasiloxane), generically named cyclomethicones. However, different studies show the hypothesis that the use of these products is harmful and, therefore, several countries have adopted legislative actions to limit their use in personal care and cosmetic products. Faced with this new situation, different cosmetic companies began to look for different alternatives to cyclomethicones, mainly: organomodified silicones or esters.

Solvent-free enzymatic production of high quality cetyl esters.

A solvent-free biocatalytic process for the synthesis of high quality cetyl laurate, myristate, palmitate and stearate has been optimized. This enzymatic procedure follows the fundamental principles of the Green Chemistry and lead to sustainable products, which can be labeled as natural and conform to the principal requirements for its use in high value-added goods. The four esters selected are the main components of spermaceti, a mixture of waxes very appreciated in cosmetic and pharmacy because of its physical properties and emolliency, which was formerly extracted from the head of the sperm whales.

Study of different reaction schemes for the enzymatic synthesis of polyglycerol polyricinoleate.

Background: Different strategies for the solvent-free enzymatic production of polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) were explored in an attempt to simplify and improve the process. Besides the conventional procedure (obtaining polyricinoleic acid, followed by its esterification with polyglycerol), two alternative methods are proposed: (1) reversing the synthesis order, i.e.