Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of esters and amides for cosmetic uses

This work focuses on the Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of esters and amides of great interest for the cosmetic sector, by employing enzymes Lipozyme® 435 and Novozym® 435, respectively. The esterification reactions yielded very high conversion of substrates in solvent-free systems within a short time interval. Regarding the synthesis of amides, Lauric and Oleic acid monoethanolamine (LMEA and OMEA) were successfully synthetized both with and without the use of organic solvents. The most promising results were obtained through the transacylation reactions in tert-butanol between the ethyl esters of fatty acids and monoethanolamine, with remarkable yields in few reaction hours. The synthesis of the same compounds in solvent-free systems led to lower amount of product due to the formation of undesired highly viscous substances: the finest results were obtained by using lauric acid and methyl oleate as acyl donors for LMEA and OMEA, respectively. At last, a two-step procedure to synthesize a pseudo-ceramide is reported, and the high purity thereof corroborated by 1H NMR analysis.