Abstract:

Monoacylglycerols (MAGs) represent 70% of all synthetic emulsifiers used in industry. The use of chemical methods for the synthesis of these esters presents several disadvantages, including poor selectivity towards 1-monoesters and harsh conditions, leading to colored products and poor yields. Lipases have also been applied to overcome these issues, achieving good yields and improving selectivity. Recently, much attention has been given to continuous flow protocols in which reactions can be performed in a cascade sequence without or within isolation of intermediates. The main advantage of the use of continuous flow approach based on packed bed reactor is the improved mass transfer and recyclability of the solid catalyst. In this work we reported our results on a three-step chemo enzymatic cascade reaction starting from glycerol derived from biodiesel synthesis and arriving at 1- monoacylglycerols.The three steps are summarized on scheme 1.