A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR LIPASE-CATALYZED SYNTHESIS OF PARTIAL GLYCERIDES

Four different approaches for the synthesis of monolaurylglycerol (MLG ) by non specific Pseudomonas cepacia lipase in a crude and purified f orm have been studied: a. The direct esterification of glycerol by lau ric acid in bis-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate sodium salt (AOT)/isoocta ne microemulsion systems; b. the transesterification of glycerol by vi nyl laurate in the presence or not of any solvent; c. solid-phase glyc erolysis of trilaurin; and, d. transesterification of protected glycer ol, 1,2-O-isopropylidene glycerol, by vinyl laurate, in the presence o r not of any solvent. It was found that in the two latter cases (d and c) the formation of pure MLG was occurred, while in the first two cas es (a and b) apart of MLG the formation of DLG was also observed.