In this study two different strategy were followed to obtain a D-fructose-oleic acid ester. One of the strategies has been well established enzymatic synthesis of an ester bond. The other strategy excluded the biocatalyst and only used a mixture of two organic solvents as the reaction media, 2-methyl-2-butanol / dimethyl sulfoxide or tert-butanol / dimethyl sulfoxide for the production of D-fructose-oleic acid ester. Ester products obtained were characterised by using FT-IR, NMR, by MS. Product yield was also assessed by HPLC. Results of structural analyses and yield measurement indicated that two approaches produced almost identical ester products.
Keywords: 2-methyl-2-butanol; dimethyl sulfoxide; fructose; oleic acid; sugar-fatty acid esterification; tert-butanol.