Cetyl Alcohol

Dubey, Parul, et al. World J. Pharm. Pharmaceut. Sci, 2014, 3, 993.

Non-pathogenic yeast Candida bombicola was used to synthesize a novel sophorolipid (cetyl alcohol-derived sophorolipid, SLCA) through a process that incorporated glucose and cetyl alcohol as hydrophilic and lipophilic carbon sources respectively. The biosurfactant SLCA lowers the surface tension of water to 31.349 mN/m and has a critical micelle concentration of 104 mg/L. The SLCA showed complete inhibition of both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus growth at a concentration of 300 µg/mL.
The fermentation process for creating cetyl alcohol derived sophorolipids (SLCA)
· A loopful of Candida bombicola ATCC 22214 cells was removed from a slant to initiate a seed culture, which was created by transferring the cells into 10 mL of a medium containing the following per gram: The medium consisted of 100 grams glucose, 1.0 g yeast extract, 0.3 g MgSO4·7H2O, 2 g Na2HPO4, 7 g NaH2PO4 and 1 g (NH4)2SO4 per gram of the total mixture.
· During a 24-hour incubation period at 30°C, maintained orbital shaking at 180 rpm. The seed culture progressed to a 40 mL medium to create the starter culture which received identical incubation conditions for another 24 hours.
· The starter culture was moved into 200 mL of identical medium in a 1 L Erlenmeyer flask which was then incubated for 120 hours at 30°C with orbital shaking at 180 rpm for fermentative production. The medium received cetyl alcohol as a lipophilic substrate at 1 g per 100 mL where dissolved the substance in 0.5 mL of ethanol.

Dastidar, Debabrata G., et al. Nanomedicine, 2019, 14(16), 2121-2150.

PTX-encapsulated core-shell nanoparticle of cetyl alcohol (PaxSLN) can be targeted to cancer cells via oral route because hexadecanol is metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase overexpressed in cancer cells.
Synthesis of PaxSLN
A 10 mL formulation was prepared by combining 200 mg cetyl alcohol, 1.3 g Tween 20, and 16.7 mg PTX and heating the mixture to 61°C in a temperature-controlled water bath. The resulting molten mixture was thoroughly homogenized to form the oil phase.
· A separate aqueous phase was prepared by heating a mixture of 2 mL propylene glycol and 4.7 mL water to 61°C. The hot aqueous phase was then added to the hot oil phase under continuous stirring, and stirring continued for 10 minutes to form a hot microemulsion.
· This microemulsion was slowly added to 2 mL of ice-cold water (maintained in an ice bath) while stirring at 1500 rpm. Stirring was maintained for an additional 90 minutes to solidify the microemulsion droplets into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs). The SLN formulation was refrigerated until use.
· To isolate the lipid nanoparticles (PaxSLN), the formulation was centrifuged at 324,000 x g for 1 hour (45,000 rpm). The supernatant was discarded, and the resulting particles were washed twice with Milli-Q water. The particles were then resuspended in a 5% (w/v) aqueous mannitol solution (cetyl alcohol:mannitol mass ratio of 1:1) by vortex mixing. Finally, the samples were frozen at -80°C overnight and lyophilized for 36 hours.