Lipase-catalyzed modification of sesame oil to incorporate capric acid

Sesame oil was modified to incorporate capric acids (C10:0) with an immobil ized lipase, IM60, from Rhizomucor miehei. Transesterification was performe d with and without organic solvent. After 24 h incubation in hexane, there was an average of 28.3+/-3.5 mol% incorporation of C10:0 into sesame oil. T he solvent-free reaction produced an average of 25.7+/-4.3 mol% capric acid . As enzyme load, substrate mole ratio, and incubation time increased mol% capric acid incorporation also increased For the time course reaction, inco rporation of C10:0 increased up to 34.3 and 25.3 mol%, at 72 h and 8 h, for the hexane and solvent-free reactions, respectively. The highest C10:0 inc orporation (62.2 mol%) occurred at a mole ratio of 1:7 (sesame oil/C10:0) i n hexane and for the solvent-free reaction (35.7 mol%) was obtained at a mo le ratio of 1:5 and 1. 7. At a lipase load of 15%, incorporation of C10:0 r eached optimal values of 30.0 and 25.2 mol% for the reactions with and with out hexane, respectively. There was a decline in mol% incorporation of C10: 0 into sesame oil in hexane with the addition of increasing amounts of wate r ranging from 0-12%. With no added water, C10:0 incorporation was 24.8 mol %. However, C10:0 incorporation remained steady when water was added to the solvant-free reaction after an initial decline from 31.7 mol% without wate r addition. Pancreatic lipase-catalyzed sn-2 positional analysis was perfor med before and after enzymatic modification. Sesame oil containing capric a cid was successfully produced and may be useful in food applications.