Transglycosylation is the in-vivo or in-vitro process of transferring glycosyl groups from a donor to an acceptor, which is usually performed by enzymatic reactions because of their simplicity, low steric hindrance, high region-specificity, low production cost, and mild processing conditions. One of the enzymes commonly used in the transglycosylation reaction is cyclodextrin glucanotransferase (CGTase). The transglycosylated products, catalyzed by CGTase, are widely used in food additives, supplements, and personal care and cosmetic products. This is due to improvements in the solubility, stability, bioactivity and length of the synthesized products. This paper's focus is on the importance of enzymes used in the transglycosylation reaction, their characteristics and mechanism of action, sources and production yield, and donor and acceptor specificities. Moreover, the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the enzymatic reaction, catalysis of glycosidic linkages, and advantages of CGTase transglycosylation reactions are discussed in detail.
Present study was conducted to evaluate the ability of Trichoderma viride as a source of cyclodextrin glucanotransferase that has shown transglycosylation activity in the presence of polyphenolic constituents extracted from Moringa oleifera leaves as its acceptor and wheat flour as its substrate to catalyze synthesis of polyphenolic glycosides as transglycosylation (transfer) reaction products. The enzymatic synthesized polyphenolic glycosides were then purified using octa-dodecyl-functionalized silica gel column chromatography prior to analysis using thin layer chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography and identified using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The high performance liquid chromatogram performed that the isolated transglycosylation products had retention times and concentration at 1.446 min (0.0017 mg/ml), 1.431 min (0.14 mg/ml), and 1.474 min (0.012 mg/ml), respectively, compared to the retention time of arbutin (1.474 min) that was applied as authentic standard for polyphenol glycoside. Moreover, observation using 1H NMR as well as 13C NMR showed that structures of the transglycosylation products were identified as gallic acid-4-O-β-glucopyranoside, ellagicacid-4-O-β-glucopyranoside, and catechin-4'-O-glucopyranoside, respectively.