Lipase-Catalysed Enrichment of gamma-Linolenic Acid from Evening Primrose Oil in a Solvent-Free System

Abstract

The enrichment of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) was carried out in a solvent-free system by lipase-catalysed esterification of free fatty acids from evening primrose oil (EPO-FA) and 1-butanol (BtOH). The lipase employed to conduct this study was a free preparation of Candida rugosa. Variables evaluated were: substrate molar ratio (1:4, 1:6, 1:8, 1:10 and 1:12, EPO-FA:BtOH), temperature (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 A degrees C), and enzyme loading (5, 10, 15 and 20 %, based on the total weight of substrates). GLA was highly enriched in the non-esterified fatty acid fraction since C. rugosa showed very low selectivity for this fatty acid. We were able to increase the content of GLA to ca. 70 wt.% under the following optimal conditions: 30 A degrees C, 10 % enzyme loading and a 1:10 molar ratio (EPO-FA:BtOH), after 24 h. An additional set of experiments was conducted whereby the amount of water was controlled by addition of molecular sieves to the reaction mixture. The latter experiments produced a higher GLA concentrate (83.74 wt.%), under the optimal conditions described above and by adding 10 % molecular sieves (based on the total weight of substrates) after 36 h.