Continuous production of acyl mannoses by immobilized lipase using a packed-bed reactor and their surfactant properties

Acyl mannoses with acyl chain lengths of 8-16 were continuously produced at 50 degreesC using a plug-flow-type reactor packed with an immobilized lipa se, Chirazyme(R) L-2. 2-Methyl-2-propanol dehydrated over 5A molecular siev es was used as the reaction medium. Irrespective of the acyl chain, a conve rsion of more than 0.5 was achieved at the superficial residence time ro eq ual to or longer than 20 min. It was demonstrated that 6-o-myristoyl mannos e could be produced at a conversion of ca. 0.4 for at least 16 days using t he reactor operated at tau (o) = 12 min, and that 6-o-lauroyl and 6-o-capro yl mannoses could also be produced at similar conversions with the same res idence time. The surfactant properties of the produced capryloyl, caproyl, lauroyl and myristoyl mannoses were also determined at 25 degreesC. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.