Acidolysis of tristearin with selected long-chain fatty acids

Five lipases, namely, Candida antarctica (Novozyme-435), Mucor miehei (Lipozyme-IM), Pseudomonas sp. (PS-30), Aspergillus niger (AP-12), and Candida rugosa (AY-30), were screened for their effect on catalyzing the acidolysis of tristearin with selected long-chain fatty acids. Among the lipases tested C. antarctica lipase catalyzed the highest incorporation of oleic acid (OA, 58.2%), gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, 55.9%), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 81.6%), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 47.7%) into tristearin. In comparison with other lipases examined, C. rugosa lipase catalyzed the highest incorporation of linoleic acid (LA, 75.8%), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 74.8%), and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA, 53.5%) into tristearin. Thus, these two lipases might be considered promising biocatalysts for acidolysis of tristearin with selected long-chain fatty acids. EPA was better incorporated into tristearin than DHA using the fifth enzymes. LA incorporation was better than CLA. ALA was more reactive than GLA during acidolysis, except for the reaction catalyzed by Pseudomonas sp., possibly due to structural differences (location and geometry of double bonds) between the two fatty acids. In another set of experiments, a combination of equimolar quantities of unsaturated C18 fatty acids (OA + LA + CLA + GLA + ALA) was used for acidolysis of tristearin to C18 fatty acids at ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3. All lipases tested catalyzed incorporation of OA and LA into tristearin except for M. miehei, which incorportaed only OA. C. rugosa lipase better catalyzed incorporation of OA and LA into tristearin than other lipases tested, whereas the lowest incorporation was obtained using Pseudomonas sp. As the mole ratio of substrates increased from 1 to 3, incorporation of OA and LA increased except for the reaction catalyzed by A. niger and C. rugosa. All lipases tested failed to allow GLA or CLA to participate in the acidolysis reaction, and ALA was only slightly incoporated into tristearin when M. miehei was used.