Green method of synthesis of aryl alcohols using Lagenaria siceraria : Analytical method development and validation

The eco-friendly synthesis of various aromatic alcohols from their respective aldehydes and ketones using biocatalysts has become a focal point for researchers. Recently, the need for cost-effective, non-hazardous catalysts is more preferred for the synthesis of various industrially important compounds. By optimizing the reaction processes and also implementing recycling and reuse strategies, the organic chemists can drastically reduce the environmental footprint on fine-chemical production. In terms of achieving this, the biocatalysts offer several advantages compared to other sources of chemo catalysts. Hence, the chemists often explore and compare diverse sources of biocatalysts in order to scale-up for a particular industrial or laboratory process. The use of plant cells are gaining importance because they are readily available, biodegradable and more importantly do not cause undesirable side effects to the user. In this study, the process of preparation of primary aryl alcohols from their aldehydes using Lagenaria siceraria as biocatalyst is developed for the first of its kind in lesser time (36–72 h). As the developed methodology, do not require any harsh reaction conditions and use only renewable and biodegradable catalysts, hence the proposed method emerges as a greener and sustainable method for the preparation of aromatic alcohols from their respective aryl aldehydes. A RP-HPLC method was developed to monitor the conversion to product alcohols and the same has been validated using ICH Q2 (R2) guidelines. The developed HPLC technique was a simple, reliable and sensitive method for the quantification of the prepared benzyl alcohols.