The orthogonal Plackett-Burman statistical experimental design was employed to study the efficacy of the lipase-mediated esterification of alpha -terpineol with a wide variety of organic acids. A two level design used to study the effect of eleven carboxylic acids of carbon chain length C2 to CI8 identified all the acids to be significant, implying that corresponding esters of alpha -terpineol were produced in substantial amounts, 18.7-41.1%, on using lipase as catalyst. The Plackett-Burman design, not attempted in lipase catalysis before, is a reliable method to short-list the best organic acid from a wide range or understand the extent of esterification possible under a given set of conditions in a very small number of experiments.