Enzymatic synthesis of 2-phenoxyethanol galactoside by whole cells of β-galactosidase-containing Escherichia coli

Abstract

We investigated whether β-galactosidase (β-gal)-containing Escherichia coli cells could transfer a galactose to 2-phenoxyethanol, resulting in 2-phenoxyethanol galactoside (PE-Gal). PE-Gal was confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. In addition, we also confirmed that a galactose molecule was covalently bonded with PE during thin-layer chromatography analysis of the β-gal hydrolysate of PE-Gal. The yield for PE-Gal synthesis was about 37.5% (weight basis), which was about 7–8 times greater than that of a previous report. In addition, the concentration of β-gal (0.96 U/ml) used in this PE-Gal synthesis was about 20 times less than that in a previous report.