Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis
2026: BCREC Volume 21 Issue 4 Year 2026 (December 2026)

Synthesis of Long-Chain Alkyl Epoxides via Chemoenzymatic Epoxidation of Fatty Acids of Terminalia catappa L. Oil

Dedy Suhendra (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Mataram, Jl. Majapahit No. 62 Mataram, 83125)
Erin Ryantin Gunawan (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Mataram, Jl. Majapahit No. 62 Mataram, 83125)
Murniati Murniati (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Mataram, Jl. Majapahit No. 62 Mataram, 83125)
Baiq Nafa Hartia Liana (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Mataram, Jl. Majapahit No. 62 Mataram, 83125)
Eka Kusmiati (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Mataram, Jl. Majapahit No. 62 Mataram, 83125)



Article Info

Publish Date
26 Dec 2026

Abstract

Long-chain alkyl epoxides (LCAEs) derived from renewable vegetable oils are promising bio-based chemical intermediates and functional materials. This study aimed to synthesize LCAEs from unsaturated fatty acids derived from Terminalia catappa L. seed oil (FA-TCO) via chemoenzymatic epoxidation. TCO was first hydrolyzed using Lipozyme® TL IM, an immobilized lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus, to obtain FA-TCO, which was subsequently subjected to epoxidation using H₂O₂ as the oxygen donor and lipase as the biocatalyst. The effects of reaction parameters were systematically investigated to determine the optimum epoxidation conditions. The optimum conditions were achieved at 50 °C, with an FA-TCO-to-enzyme mass ratio of 10:1 (w/w), an FA-TCO-to-H₂O₂ mass ratio of 5:4 (w/w), and an epoxidation time of 5 h. Under these conditions, the relative conversion to oxirane (RCO) reached 67.67 %, demonstrating effective conversion of C=C bonds into oxirane groups. FTIR analysis confirmed oxirane formation through characteristic bands at 884 and 1247 cm⁻¹. The formation of oxirane groups was further supported by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, which showed resonances consistent with oxirane associated protons at 2.75–2.77 ppm and oxirane carbons at 62.2–62.5 ppm, respectively. Overall, the results demonstrate the feasibility of chemoenzymatic epoxidation for producing FA-TCO-based LCAEs from a renewable feedstock. Copyright © 2026 by Authors, Published by BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

bcrec

Publisher

Subject

Chemical Engineering, Chemistry & Bioengineering Chemistry

Description

Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, a reputable international journal, provides a forum for publishing the novel technologies related to the catalyst, catalysis, chemical reactor, kinetics, and chemical reaction engineering. Scientific articles dealing with the following topics in ...