An electrospun ultrafine fibrous silica catalyst incorporating an alkyl-silica coating containing lipase for reactions in organic solvents

Electrospun ultrafine silica fibers were coated with alkyl-silica encapsulating Burkholderia cepacia lipase to fabricate fibrous catalysts for reactions in organic solvents. The optimal catalytic performance of the immobilized lipase, determined from the initial transesterification rate of triglyceride in rapeseed oil with n-butanol, was 15- and 1.8-times faster than that of reagent lipase powder and lipase physically adsorbed onto silica fibers, respectively. Furthermore, the equilibrium conversion yield of the new catalyst was almost 100%, whereas that of the physically adsorbed lipase was only about 70%. Catalytic activity was maintained for 15 days in a flow-through continuous reaction system, with a 10% reduction in conversion yield at the outlet of the reactor compared with the value detected at day 1. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the fibrous silica catalyst containing immobilized lipase for reactions in organic solvents.