4. Conclusion
Both chemical and enzyme-catalysed esterification of fatty acids with 2-phenethyl alcohol can effectively generate 2-phenethyl alcohol-derived esters.
Fatty acid carbon chain length had an effect on the flavour attributes of 2-phenethyl esters.
Moreover,through Lipozyme TL IM-mediated transesterification,valuable 2-phenethyl alcohol derived esters were synthesised from natural butter oil.
The influence of some synthetic parameters(temperature, substrate molar ratio, enzyme loading, shaking speed and time), in order to attain a higher conversion of 2-phenethyl
alcohol to esters was also examined.
The optimum conditions may provide a reference for the transesterification reaction for not only 2-phenethyl esters but also other chemically-derived esters.
The transesterified butter oil may be directly applied as a flavouring
ingredient or further processed to obtain pure aroma chemicals.
This novel flavour ingredient can have applications not only in flavour and fragrance formulations (especially upon extraction and separation), but also directly in food products, such as cheese.