Sugar Ester Surfactants: Enzymatic Synthesis and Applications in Food Industry

Abstract

Sugar esters are non-ionic surfactants that can be synthesized in a single enzymatic reaction step using lipases. The stability and efficiency of lipases under unusual conditions and using non-conventional media can be significantly improved through immobilization and protein engineering. Also, the development of de novo enzymes has seen a significant increase lately under the scope of the new field of synthetic biology. Depending on the esterification degree and the nature of fatty acid and/or sugar, a range of sugar esters can be synthesized. Due to their surface activity and emulsifying capacity, sugar esters are promising for applications in food industry.

Keywords:

• Sugar ester surfactant
• lipase
• immobilization
• organic reaction
• food industry application

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the AlBan Programme (European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America) for financial support of N. Lopes through the research grant E07D401544BR.