Feasibility of Glycolipid Synthesis by β-Glucosidase

As a biosurfactant, glycolipids (GLs) reduce the interfacial tension between solids, liquids, and gases. Due to its degradability, GLs have become an environmentally friendly alternative. Most GLs have limited natural diversity. In order to expand the application, enzymatic GL synthesis has been developed to replace traditional manufacturing methods.

The enzymes used for the enzymatic synthesis of GLs include two main types: lipase and β-glucosidase. Lipase synthesis of GLs has more advantages, but there are occasional instances where GLs are easily degraded and specific by-products are generated, so β-glucosidase was developed to catalyze GL synthesis. β-glucosidase is inexpensive, and regionally specific. There are virtually no by-products in GL synthesis. Researchers have now used almond β-glucosidase to catalyze the synthesis of novel GLs from sugars and fatty alcohols.

Fig. 1. GL formation by β-glucosidases via reverse hydrolysis route. (Grüninger, et al., 2019)

Services

CD BioGlyco has a complete manufacturing facility to complete the development of customized GL synthesis according to customer requirements. We also have a wide range of analytical equipment to provide our customers with complete analytical test data.

• GL manufacture services
  We develop β-glucosidases as alternatives to lipases for the synthesis of novel GLs. β-glucosidases are cofactor-independent hydrolases that naturally cleave glycosidic bonds in polysaccharides. Similar to lipases, β-glucosidases act on a wide variety of substrates to catalyze the formation of GL. We employ a variety of substrates to synthesize GLs. Fructose, rhamnose, mannose, alginate, and galactose are used to synthesize the heads. Various fatty alcohols such as butanol, hexanol, octanol, and decanol are used as tails. We have a professional glycochemistry R&D team and a perfect experimental platform. Our testing instruments include Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, etc. Guided by customers' needs, we will send weekly reports of experimental progress and analyze test data to our customers.

Fig.2 Enzymatic GL synthesis process. (CD BioGlyco)

• GL products
  We catalyze the synthesis of various types of GLs, such as alkylpolyglucoside (APG), by β-glucosidase. We catalyze APG synthesis in two main ways: by the reverse hydrolysis pathway (thermodynamically controlled) or by the transglycosylation pathway (kinetically controlled). Our products also include polyglycosyl ceramides, monoglycosyl ceramides, diglycosyl ceramides, digalactosylceramide, dipalmitin, and others.

Applications

• Enzymatic methods play a crucial role in the synthesis of novel GLs. Researchers used the β-glucosidase synthesis technique to synthesize GL derivatives with specific structures.
• The β-glucosidase synthesis technique enables researchers to optimize the antibacterial, antiviral, and other biological activities of GL.
• β-Glucosidase synthesis has an important role in drug development. Novel GLs are used to study their effects in the treatment of diseases.

Advantages

• Our research team has extensive experience in glycolipid synthesis. Our experimental procedures are highly accurate and reproducible.
• β-Glucosidase naturally cleaves glycosidic bonds in polysaccharides and has broad substrate specificity.
• We provide real-time feedback to our customers on experimental progress reports and analyzed test data.

CD BioGlyco has been researching in the field of glycochemistry for many years and specializes in the preparation of various glycan fine chemicals and custom synthesis of glycans. In addition to the enzymatic synthesis of GL, we also synthesize Oligosaccharide by enzymatic synthesis, including Enzymatic Degradation/Hydrolysis for Oligosaccharide Manufacture, Enzymatic Transglycosylation for Oligosaccharide Manufacture, etc. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us for consultation.

• Lipase Catalyzed Glycolipid Synthesis