6 Lipase-Catalyzed Synthesis of Regioisomer-
ically Pure Mono- and Diglycerides
B. Aha, M. Berger, B. Jakob, G. Machmu ̈ller, C. Waldinger and M.P. Schneider
6.1 Introduction
Agricultural crops such as oil seeds and numerous cereals represent a considerable
reservoir of useful and low-cost raw materials such as lipids (fats and oils, phospho-
lipids etc.), proteins and carbohydrates.
By selective combination of their molecular constituents (i.e. fatty acids, glycerol,
oligopeptides, amino acids and saccharides) – using both chemical and biocatalytic
methods – a wide variety of surface active materials can be prepared, all of which are
highly biodegradable as a result of their molecular structures (Figure 1).
Lipases are well-established biocatalysts for the enantio- and regioselective for-
mation and hydrolysis of ester bonds in a wide variety of natural and unnatural
substrates. They therefore seemed ideally suited also for the bioconversion of the
above-mentioned plant materials and the formation of combination products with
surface active properties such as partial (mono-)glycerides, N-acylated amino acids
and protein hydrolysates as well as sugar esters (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Surface-active compounds from plant materials.
Enzymesin LipidModification.Editedby UweT. Bornscheuer
Copyright 2000 Wiley-VCHVerlagGmbH& Co. KGaA,Weinheim.ISBN:3-527-30176-3