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Enzymatic reactions; Extraction; Sustainable chemical processes; Water; Wet n-butanol
Abstract:
Water is the solvent of choice in terms of greenness and sustainability. However, it can be difficult to isolate very polar products from water. Here, we discuss the use of n-butanol as a solvent to extract polar compounds from aqueous solution. n-Butanol produces high yields and can also be sourced sustainably from biomass, which makes it attractive from a climate perspective. The reason for its high efficiency is that the wet n-butanol phase is a nanomaterial that incorporates little pockets of water that can stabilize the polar solute. Thus, the environment remains very water-like, and the presence of hydrophobic groups can tip the equilibrium towards the n-butanol phase. We also discuss a simple estimate whether n-butanol will be an efficient extraction solvent for the compound of interest based on common public databases. This should help to guide practicing organic chemists during the solvent selection process.
