Highly efficient enzymatic synthesis of an ascorbyl unstaturated fatty acid ester with ecofriendly biomass-derived 2-methyltetrahydrofuran as cosolvent.

Enzymatic synthesis of ascorbyl undecylenate, an unsaturated fatty acid ester of ascorbic acid, was reported with biomass-derived 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF) as the cosolvent. Of the immobilized lipases tested, Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL-B) showed the highest activity for enzymatic synthesis of ascorbyl undecylenate. Effect of reaction media on the enzymatic reaction was studied. The cosolvent mixture, t-butanol-MeTHF (1:4, v/v) proved to be the optimal medium, in which not only ascorbic acid had moderate solubility, but also CAL-B showed a high activity, thus addressing the major problem of the solvent conflict for dissolving substrate and keeping satisfactory enzyme activity. In addition, the enzyme was much more stable in MeTHF and t-butanol-MeTHF (1:4) than in previously widely used organic solvents, t-butanol, 2-methyl-2-butanol, and acetone. The much higher initial reaction rate in this cosolvent mixture may be rationalized by the much lower apparent activation energy of this enzymatic reaction (26.6 vs. 38.1-39.1 kJ/mol) and higher enzyme catalytic efficiency (Vmax /Km , 8.4 vs. 1.3-1.4 h(-1) ). Ascorbyl undecylenate was obtained with the yields of 84-89% and 6-regioselectivity of >99% in t-butanol-MeTHF (1:4) at supersaturated substrate concentrations (60 and 100 mM) after 5-8 h.