Synthesis of Sugar Esters Using Maize Seed Lipase as a Biocatalyst

This work is devoted to the extraction of a lipase from maize seeds obtained at low cost without extensive purification technology and used as a biocatalyst in the synthesis of various sugar esters as potential biosurfactants in the detergent industry. Indeed, several reactions have been carried out between different sugars - namely glucose, galactose, saccharose, lyxose, fructose and sorbitol - and stearic acid in a ratio of 2.5:1 in hexane at 50 °C. Kinetic monitoring of the target reactions was carried out by volumetric analysis in order to determine the conversions (C). The best results obtained were C = 76, 71 and 67% in the presence of glucose, lyxose and galactose, respectively. In addition, HPLC and TLC analyses revealed that for every sugar used two types of esters formed.