Synthesis and characterization of arabinose-palmitic acid esters by enzymatic esterification

The direct esterification of palmitic acid with L-(+)- arabinose has been carried out. The use of Candida antartica lipase B as the catalyst and the choice of suitable solvent and experimental conditions allowed carrying out the reaction successfully. In particular 10% dimethyl-sulfoxide in tert-butanol was found to be the optimal solvent. The product has been fully characterized by means of FTIR, ESI-MS, DSC, mono and bidimensional H-1 and C-13 NMR. These techniques confirm that only the primary alcoholic group was involved in the esterification reaction. (C) 2017 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.