Solvent-Free Production of Bioflavors by Enzymatic Esterification of Citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) Essential Oil

Enzymatic esterification of citronella essential oil towards the production of geranyl and citronellyl esters may present great scientific and technological interest due to the well-known drawbacks of the chemical-catalyzed route. In this context, this work reports the maximization of geranyl and citronellyl esters production by esterification of oleic and propionic acids in a solvent-free system using a commercial immobilized lipase as catalyst. Results of the reactions showed that the strategy adopted for the experimental design proved to be useful in evaluating the effects of the studied variables on the reaction conversion using Novozym 435 as catalyst. The operating conditions that maximized the production of each ester were determined, leading, in a general way, to conversions of about 90% for all systems. New experimental data on enzymatic esterification of crude citronella essential oil for geranyl and citronellyl esters production in solvent-free system are reported in this work.