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Rapid microwave assisted esterification method for the analysis of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate in Alcaligenes latus by gas
Aimesther Betancourt1, Abdessalem Yezza, Annamaria Halasz
1Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montréal (Québec) H4P 2R2, Canada.
Abstract:
In the present study, we used microwave energy instead of conventional heating to transform poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) into methyl 3-hydroxybutyrate (Me-3HB) in acidified methanol (H2SO4, 10%, v/v) mixture in less than 4 min at 10% microwave power. The microwave assisted method was then applied to analyze PHB produced by Alcaligenes latus. The PHB content in the biomass determined using microwave heating was comparable to the amount found by conventional heating. Moreover, the new esterification method was at least 50 times faster than the conventional method, affording a significant saving of time and energy.
