18E-14

C. E. MARTÍNEZ-SÁNCHEZ¹, E. Herman-Lara², H. S. Garcia³, E. Paz-Gamboa¹, J. Juarez-Cumplido¹, and E. Ramírez-Figueroa¹. (1) Biochemical Engineering Dept., Instituto Tecnologico de Tuxtepec, Calz. Dr Victor Bravo Ahuja s/n, Col. 5 de Mayo, Tuxtepec, Oax., 68360, Mexico, (2) Biochemical Engineering Dept., Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtepec, PO Box 69, Tuxtepec, Oax., 68360, Mexico, (3) UNIDA, Instituto Tecnologico de Veracruz, M.A. de Quevedo # 2779, Col. Formando Hogar, Veracruz, Ver., 91897, Mexico

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a term used for a mixture of positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid. This family of isomers has been studied for the past several years due to its nutraceutical properties. Interesterification of chemically produced CLA may be a practical way for incorporation into edible fats and oils. The objective of this work was to produce triacilglycerols enriched with CLA by lipase-catalyzed acidolysis in a solvent free system of corn oil and a mixture of fatty acids (MFA) derived from alkaline isomerization of sunflower oil and concentrate to obtain 78% of CLA. An immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei was used. Two different MFA:corn oil ratios (3:1 and 1:1) were reacted with 11 % lipase preparation (w/w) at 70°C, during 24 h. The reactor was flushed with nitrogen and kept with constant stirring. The enzyme was removed by filtration and the excess of free fatty acids was removed with a short path wiped film distillation unit, followed by alkali refining with 20% NaOH. Results showed that the lipase from R. miehei effectively incorporated CLA into corn oil triacylglycerides. The content of CLA in the resulting triacylglycerides was 37.75% and 40.73% for triacylglycerides from the 3.1 and 1.1 ratios, respec-tively. The degree of incorporation of CLA and the other fatty acids was a function of their total concentration in the system. The only exception was stearic acid (C18:0), which was higher in the resulting triacylglycerides (2.8%) than that in the original material (corn oil contained 2.5% stearic acid). This suggests a slight preference of the enzyme for stearic acid. Acidolysis of corn oil the mixture of fatty acids using R. miehei lipase allowed the incorporation of high levels of CLA (40%). This methodol-ogy shows potential to produce triacylglycerides enriched with CLA.

Session 18E, Nutraceutical & Functional Foods: General I
2:00 PM - 5:30 PM, Sunday PM Room Hall I-2

2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana