poster presented: Carlos Girao visited the 7th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference in Dresden

This week, our Brazilian sandwich doctoral researcher Carlos Girao visited the 7th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference in Dresden and presented a poster entitled “Enzymatic biotransformation of terpenic esters from Cymbopogon winterianus essential oil using lipase B from Candida antarctica immobilized on cashew apple bagasse lignin conjugated with magnetic nanoparticles”. The aim of this annual international meeting is to explore inter- and transdisciplinary aspects of green and sustainable chemistry. On his poster, Carlos described the immobilisation of a fungal lipase on a lignin-rich support extracted from an abundant agricultural waste, namely cashew apple bagasse, and its conjugation to magnetic nanoparticles. The immobilised enzyme was characterised and used “in reverse” for the synthesis of terpene esters using essential oil from Cympobogon winterianus, a kind of lemon grass. Carlos carefully and systematically optimized the conditions for the enzymatic conversion, eventually obtaining excellent yields. Clearly, thus, the biotechnological synthesis of terpene esters represents a promising alternative to the current chemical route, with lower environmental impact. In addition, the process can be economically viable due the use of an alternative and low-cost raw material as immobilization support. Carlos adds: “The conference was personally and professionally enriching. It was highly relevant to the topic of my doctoral thesis, particularly the discussions on the new methods of green and sustainable catalysis that have been developed and studied in recent years. Our work received positive feedback from the evaluators, and I had valuable exchanges of experiences with researchers working on similar topics.”