Sustainable Manufacture of a Valuable Fragrance Ingredient: Lipase- Catalyzed Acylation of Vetiver Essential Oil and Chemoselectivity between Sesquiterpene Alcohols

A lipase-catalyzed acylation reaction of crude Haitian vetiver essential oil was studied as an alternative to chemical processes for the manufacture of an industrially relevant fragrance ingredient. A competitive process that involved a recyclable immobilized lipase at 10% w/w was developed and used up to the kilogram scale and quantitatively delivered the target product with good productivity (up to 90 gL(-1) h(-1)). With the support of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCxGC-MS), it was found that the enzymatic reaction exhibited a high chemoselectivity in favor of primary sesquiterpene alcohols. This finding and its consequence on the olfactory properties were correlated with sensory analysis.