SYNTHESIS OF STRUCTURED TRIGLYCERIDES FROM PEANUT OIL WITH IMMOBILIZED LIPASE

Structured triglycerides (ST) that contain medium- and long-chain fatt y acids were synthesized by lipase-catalyzed interesterification betwe en tricaprylin and peanut oil. To select appropriate enzymes, we inves tigated nine commercial lipase preparations for their ability to hydro lyze pure triglycerides as well as natural oils. Three microbial lipas es from Rhizomucor miehei (RML), Candida sp. (CSL), and Chromobacteriu m viscosum (CVL) gave good results, and immobilized preparations were used in the interesterification, RML gave the highest yields of ST (73 %, 40 degrees C), although its hydrolytic activity toward triolein was low. As the temperature was raised to 50 degrees C, the yield of ST i ncreased to 79%. After 120 h reaction time, remaining activities were high for CSL (71%), moderate for CVL (48%), and low for RML (20%).