Enzymatic synthesis of an homologous series of long- and very long-chain sucrose esters and evaluation of their emulsifying and biological properties

Certain sucrose mono-esters display excellent emulsifying properties as well as a range of other useful physicochemical characteristics that follow from their amphipathic nature. Accordingly, they are playing increasingly important roles in various food manufacturing industries. In this study, an homologous series of 6-O-acylsucrose mono-esters with long and very long fatty acid-derived acyl side-chains has been prepared via enzymatic transesterification. The surface-active properties as well as the antibacterial and antitumor activities of these esters have been studied. Their HLB values were 10.3–15.7 while the mean droplet sizes of the emulsions formed with soybean, colza and olive oils were 380–563 nm. Oil-water emulsions incorporating some of them are more stable, even under conditions of thermal and ionic stress, than those prepared using commercial sucrose esters. Additionally, these esters display activities against Gram-positive bacteria and certain fungi as well as exerting antiproliferative effects on six tumor cell lines. Taken together, these results suggest that the title esters could have considerable utility in the food industry by serving as emulsifiers, as preservatives and even as functional foods.