The monolauroyl xylitol was synthesized from xylitol and lauric acid with Novozym 435 as catalyst. The effects of molar ratio of lauric acid to xylitol, dosage of lipase, dosage of solvent, dosage of molecular sieve, reaction time and reaction temperature on the reaction were investigated and the reaction conditions were optimized. The results showed that the optimal reaction conditions were obtained as follows: with tert-butyl alcohol as solvent, molar ratio of lauric acid to xylitol 1∶2, dosage of lipase 10 g/L, dosage of solvent 20 mL/mmol(based on amount of lauric acid), dosage of molecular sieve 80 g/L, reaction time 4 h and reaction temperature 85℃. Under these conditions, the conversion rate of lauric acid was 91.8%. The product was identified as monolauroyl xylitol by infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. |