title: On the Effect of Microwave Energy on Lipase-Catalyzed Polycondensation Reactions.
abstract: Microwave energy (MWe) is, nowadays, widely used as a clean synthesis tool to improve several chemical reactions, such as drug molecule synthesis, carbohydrate conversion and biomass pyrolysis. On the other hand, its exploitation in enzymatic reactions has only been fleetingly investigated and, hence, further study of MWe is required to reach a precise understanding of its potential in this field. Starting from the authors' experience in clean synthesis and biocatalyzed reactions, this study sheds light on the possibility of using MWe for enhancing enzyme-catalyzed polycondensation reactions and pre-polymer formation. Several systems and set ups were investigated involving bulk and organic media (solution phase) reactions, different enzymatic preparations and various starting bio-based monomers. Results show that MWe enables the biocatalyzed synthesis of polyesters and pre-polymers in a similar way to that reported using conventional heating with an oil bath, but in a few cases, notably bulk phase polycondensations under intense microwave irradiation, MWe leads to a rapid enzyme deactivation.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria. alessandro.pellis@gmail.com.|Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. alessandro.pellis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pellis
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria. guebitz@boku.ac.at.|Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology GmbH, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria. guebitz@boku.ac.at.
authors.forename: Georg M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Guebitz
authors.affiliation: Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. thomas.farmer@york.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Farmer
keywords: Candida antarctica lipase B; bio-based monomers; bio-based polymers; enzymatic synthesis; microwave energy; platform molecules; polycondensation reactions