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This work was performed during Thomas Méline’s PhD thesis and was developed in collaboration between the chaire AFERE-FARE, ICMR (URCA) and the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysic to Interfaces from Gembloux AgroBioTech (Belgique). Enzymatic synthesis of D-xylose and L-arabinose laurate esters has been achieved by transesterification reactions catalysed by Candida antarctica lipase B. For L-arabinose, one monoester and one diester were obtained in a 57% overall yield. A more complex mixture was produced for D-xylose as two monoesters and two diesters were synthesized in a 75% global yield.

The structures of all these pentose laurate esters was solved. Results demonstrated that the esterification first occurred regioselectively onto the primary hydroxyl groups. Pentose laurate esters exhibited interesting features such as low critical aggregation concentrations values all inferior to 25 µM. Our study demonstrates that the enzymatic production of L-arabinose and D-xylose-based esters represents an interesting approach for the production of green surfactants from lignocellulosic biomass-derived pentoses.

Read: Méline T, Muzard M, Deleu M, Rakotoarivonina H, Plantier-Royon R, Rémond C. D-Xylose and L-arabinose laurate esters: Enzymatic synthesis, characterization and physico-chemical properties. Enzyme Microbial Technology 2018, 112, 14-21. DOI

Contacts: Pr Caroline Rémond, caroline.remond@univ-reims.fr