DefinePK

Abstract

N-lauroyl lysine is a non-ionic surfactant obtained from the synthesis of medium-chain fatty acids with lysine. This study aims to obtain data on the effect of the molar of a substrate, solvent ratio, and catalyst concentration on the fact of lauric acid (LA) conversion by compiling and observing a mathematical model with Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Lauric acid is a medium-chain fatty acid amidized with lysine and sodium methylate catalyst in a solvent mixture of 2-propanol and n-hexane. In the optimization stage, with the variables of lysine to a fatty acid molar ratio (2-4 M), solvent ratio (1-3 v/wLA), catalyst concentration (3-7 w/wLA), with a temperature of 55oC and reaction time 2 hours, the maximum conversion is 85.94%. The results showed that the independent variables affected the conversion with an R2 value of 84.85%. Analysis of the sample results using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm the formation of N-lauroyl-lysine.