A process aimed at the production of very low saturate oil is based on selective
hydrolysis, catalyzed byG. candidumlipase B, of sunflower oil, containing 12 %
saturated fatty acids, to yield a fatty acid fraction containing>99 % unsaturated
fatty acids (Figure 7) (Diks and Lee, 1999). The unsaturated fatty acids are recov-
ered by evaporation and esterified to glycerol usingR. mieheilipase with constant
removal of the water formed by sparging with nitrogen under vacuum to produce
unsaturated triacylglycerols containing<1 % saturated fatty acids in a yield of
>95 %.
Selective hydrolysis of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) oil using a lipase fromR.
arrhizusleads to enrichment of petroselinic acid in the acylglycerols (Mbayhoudel
and Comeau, 1989). Separation of the fatty acids using an ion-exchange resin fol-
lowed by hydrolysis of the resulting acylglycerols by the lipase fromC. cylindracea
yields a fatty acid concentrate containing 96 % petroselinic acid.
Selective esterification of fatty acids of coriander (Coriandrum sativum) oil with
n-butanol, catalyzed by rape lipase leads to enrichment of petroselinic acid from
about 80 % in the starting material to>95 % in unesterified fatty acids (Jachma-
nia ́n and Mukherjee, 1996). Using the same biocatalyst, selective esterification with
n-butanol of fatty acids ofHydocarpus wightianaoil containing about 10 % gorlic
acid yields an unesterified fatty acid fraction containing almost 50 % gorlic acid
(Jachmania ́n and Mukherjee, 1996).
Hydroxy acids, e.g., lesquerolic (14-hydroxy-cis-11-eicosenoic) and auricolic (14-
hydroxy-cis-11-cis-17-eicosadienoic) acid, have been selectively cleaved from les-
querella oil triacylglycerols by hydrolysis catalyzed by lipases fromR. arrhizus
(Hayes and Kleiman, 1992a,b) orR. miehei(Hayes and Kleiman, 1992b) yielding
fatty acid concentrates containing 85 % hydroxy acids.
Two polyunsaturated fatty acids with unusual structure, having acis-5-olefinic
bond, e.g., all-cis-5,11,14-octadecatrienoic and all-cis-5,11,14,17-octadecatetrae-
noic acid, have been enriched from fatty acids ofBiota orientalisseed oil via se-
lective esterification withn-butanol, catalyzed by lipase fromC. rugosa; thereby
the content of totalcis-5-polyunsaturated fatty acids is raised from 15 % in the start-
ing material to 73 % in the unesterified fatty acids (Lie Ken Jie and Syed Rahma-
tullah, 1995). Similarly, selective hydrolysis of theBiota orientalisseed oil, cata-
2.2 Fractionation of fatty acids and other lipids by lipase-catalyzed reactions 39
Figure 7. Scheme of kinetic resolution for the enrichment of oleic (OL) and linoleic (LINOL) acids via
selective hydrolysis of triacylglycerols, catalyzed by a lipase specific for fatty acids/acyl moieties having
acis-9 olefinic bond.