2018/07/27 by Ya-Ru Ma, Martin G. Banwell, Rian Yan +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Enzyme Catalysis and Immobilization #Enzyme Production and Characterization #Food Chemistry and Fat Analysis
paper · doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.8b02391
openalex publication_date 2018/07/27 · openalex created_date 2018/08/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Emulsifiers derived from renewable resources such as sucrose and fatty acids are high volume commodity chemicals and currently produced by traditional chemical synthesis techniques that lack the capacity to form the most desirable monoesters (of sucrose) in a selective and efficient fashion. The development of new emulsifiers (surfactants) from alternate, structurally simpler but nevertheless abundant disaccharides such as maltose represents a possible solution to this problem. Herein, we report the facile enzymatic preparation of a homologous series of 6'- O-acylmaltose esters and an in-depth evaluation of them revealing that their surfactant properties and thermal stabilities are largely determined by the length of the fatty acid chain. In the first such comparison, we show that the foaming and emulsifying effects of certain of these maltose monoesters are superior to those of their sucrose-derived and commercially exploited counterparts. As such, maltose esters have considerable potential as emulsifiers for use in, for example, the food industry.