Distribution of phase transfer biocatalyst at the oil/water interface by membrane emulsifier and evaluation of enantiocatalytic performance

The hydrolysis of water insoluble esters needs to be carried out in multiphase organic/ aqueous systems, where, in general, a phase transfer catalyst able to work at the interface is used. Biocatalysts, such as lipases are able to be activated by interface phenomena and in addition they can selectively distinguish between enantiomers, thus being able to carry out kinetic resolution of racemic esters [1]. The preparation of stable and uniform multiphase reaction systems and the uniform distribution of the biocatalyst at the interface by using mild conditions are among the main technological problems in developing these reactors. In general, these systems are prepared by mechanical or ultrasonic methods, which cause considerable stress to the biocatalysts and their functions. In this work, the membrane emulsification technique [2] has been used to develop a new method for distributing the lipase at the interface of oil-in-water emulsion reactor systems.