Enzymatic Synthesis of -Butylglucoside in a Biphasic Butanol-Water System Using the -Transglucosidase from Aspergillus niger

The multiple functional groups and stereocenters present in carbohydrates make them quite interesting targets for the organic chemist. Moreover, the use of renewable raw materials, such as corn starch, for synthesis reactions, is in accordance with environmental concerns. Alkylglucosides are obtained by alcoholysis of starch hydrolysates (1 ,2 ). They are a group of nonionic surfactants and exhibit an advantageous biodegradability (3 ). They are applied in detergents, food, and pharmaceutical fields (4 ). In addition, they can be used as substrates for the production of acylglucosides (5 –8 ), which are also surfactants. Enzymatic glycosylation can be a complementary tool to the chemical approach (9 ) since it is stereoselective and the product can be obtained by a one-step reaction (6 ,10 ,11 ).