Sweet polyesters: Lipase-catalyzed condensation - Polymerizations of alditols

The use of isolated enzymes of lipase as catalyst in the preparation of both functional linear polymers and polymers with improved control over branching for polymerization reactions is discussed. Lipases are well established catalysts for regioselective esterification of low molar mass substrates at mild temperature. Lipase regioselectivity can be varied by many parameters that includes substrate structure, lipase structure, lipase immobilization, reaction medium, time , and temperature. The expanded set of naturally derived polyols was accessed for their potential to form high molecular weight polyol-polysters by N435 catalysis. The importance of precise vacuum control on reproducibility of experiments was established. Th results show that the expanded set of polylols and reproducible reaction conditions illucidate the details of regioselectivity and branching during enzyme-catalyzed polyol-polyster polymerization.