| Summary: | Compounds from phenolic acid family are well known natural antioxidants, but the application of phenolic acids as antioxidants in industry is limited due to the relatively low solubility in oil-based media. The properties of phenolic acids can be modified through enzymatic lipophilization and modified phenolic acids will have amphiphilic property, therefore they can be localized at oil-water or water-oil phase where oxidation is considered to occur frequently. It had been reported that immobilized Candida Antarctica lipase B was the most effective biocatalyst for the various esterification reactions, and it had been widely used for esterification of various phenolic acids with fatty alcohol or triglycerides. However, the conversion of phenolic acids is low due to low solubility in hydrophobic solvents and hindrance effect of unsaturated side chain towards the enzyme. Our studies show these barriers can be overcome by increase the solubility of phenolic acids. Ionic liquid Methyltrioctylammonium Trifluoroacetate can dissolve different phenolic acids in very high concentration. This ionic liquid was therefore applied for esterification of phenolic acids with fatty alcohol or triglyceride.
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