Abstract: Box-Behnken experimental design and response surface methodology (RSM) were combinedly employed to evaluate the effects of the amounts of formic acid and oleoyl chloride as well as reaction temperature and time on the synthesis of oleoyl-alginate ester (OAE). The optimum synthesis conditions of OAE were found to be alginate amount of 0.5 g, formic acid amount of 4.95 mL, oleoyl chloride amount of 11.27 mL, reaction temperature of 50 ℃ and reaction time of 20 min. Under these conditions, the maximum degree of substitution (DS) and yield of OAE were observed to be respectively 4.93% and 92.27%, which were in accordance with the corresponding predicted values.

Key words: oleoyl-alginate ester (OAE), response surface methodology (RSM), synthesis process