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Langmuir 1998, 14, 738-740
Surface Active Substrates Essential in Lipase-Mediated Esterifications in Foams N. Madhusudhana Rao* Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India 500 07
Mereyala Haribabu Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, India 500 007 Received September 29, 1997. In Final Form: November 17, 1997 Foam offers an appropriate surface to perform lipase-mediated reactions. Aqueous foam, a colloidal dispersion of air in water, offers a very high substrate surface to solvent volume ratio for lipases to act. Esterification, an unfavorable reaction in water, could be efficiently done by lipase in aqueous foams made of lipase substrates. Esterification of oleic acid with a homologous series of aliphatic alcohols of varying length showed that surface excess property of both the substrates is essential for ester formation. The direction of lipase reaction is governed by the composition of the reactants in the interface. Similar reactions could be done in water with substrates adsorbed on hydrophobic beads. Foam-based reactions offer a simple, cheaper and environment-friendly method to conduct lipase-mediated reactions.
Low water reaction systems (
