FORMATION OF ESTERS FROM ALCOHOLS BY BREWER'S YEAST

Abstract

A study has been made of the formation of a number of esters of acetic acid from the corresponding alcohols in anaerobic fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a synthetic medium. Esters were formed from all of the alcohols studied; the iso-alcohols were poorer substrates of ester formation than the straight-chain alcohols. The correlation between ester formation and alcohol concentration could be expressed by a modification of the Briggs-Haldane equation of monomolecular enzymic reactions. The Michaelis constant and the maximum rate decreased with increasing molecular weight. The alcohols were competitive inhibitors of the formation of esters from other alcohols. Only minor amounts of other esters than ethyl esters are to be expected in, e.g., beer and wine as the corresponding alcohols are present in rather low quantities in these products.