Use of Bioprinted Lipases in Microwave-Assisted Esterification Reactions

In this study, a comparative evaluation was performed in batch esterification reactions under conventional heating (CH) and assisted by microwave irradiation (MW) using bioprinted lipases. Microwave-irradiation-assisted reactions generally provide higher productivities and improve synthesis performance in terms of increased rate and reduced reaction times, resulting in higher interest yields in less time. Productivity was calculated with the enzymes: Burkholderia cepacia lipase (BCL), Candida rugosa lipase (CRL), and porcine pancreas lipase (PPL) using different fatty acids (lauric acid (12:0), myristic acid (14:0), palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), and oleic acid (18:1)) and alcohols at a molar ratio of 1:8. The microwave reactor was operated at a temperature of 45 °C, and power varied between 50 W and 200 W. Bioprinted BCL (bBCL) showed the highest productivity among the tested lipases. In the reaction with the best result, bBCL with lauric acid under MW, the reaction time decreased from 24 h (CH) to 25 min (MW) and the productivity increased 33 times compared with the reactions under CH. The increase in productivity demonstrates its activation that occurred as a result of conformational changes of the enzyme in the bioprinting process, confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometric analysis, which reduces the content of bBCL α-helix with lauric acid. The biocatalyst showed high operational stability over eight cycles, while losing only 19% of its initial activity with half-life times of 12.8 batches. The storage time was five weeks, maintaining ≈80% activity. The results demonstrate the prospect of a new enzymatic route to obtain hyperactive catalysts, with the use of bioprinted lipases in esterification reactions under microwave irradiation, for the synthesis of esters with a view to large-scale industrial application