LAUSR

Optimization of lipase-catalyzed interesterification for the production of structured lipid, enriched with arachidonic acid (ARA) from tripalmitin and ARA single cell oil was carried out. Response surface methodology was applied to model and optimize the reaction system; factors of temperature, substrate molar ratio, reaction time and enzyme load were chosen for the optimization. The optimal conditions generated from the models were as follows: temperature of 50C, substrate molar ratio of 1 : 12, reaction time of 13.36 h, and enzyme load of 7.58 wt %. Under these conditions, the incorporation of ARA and acyl migration were 55.11 ± 0.15 and 15.85 ± 0.05%, respectively. It was found that 69.57% of ARA was mainly incorporated in the sn-1, 3 positions and 62.31% of palmtic acid was located at the sn-2 position of the TAG. Practical Applications This obtained structured lipid 1, 3-arachidonoyl-2-palmitoyl-glycerol could provide a fat source with high value-added functional ARA at the sn-1, 3 position and serve as a good source of palmitic acid at the sn-2 position, which can improve the absorption of fat and reducing calcium loss of the human body. This synthesized APA-type structured lipid enables a high similarity of human milk fat substitutes to human milk fat which can be potentially used as fat substitute in infant formula.