Lipase activity and fatty acid typoselectivities of plant extracts in hydrolysis and interesterification

Lipase fatty acid typoselectivities of Euphorbia characias latex and commercially available crude preparation of bromelain were determined in the hydrolysis of homogeneous triacylglycerols (TAG) and natural TAG mixtures. Their activities were compared to a commercially available crude preparation of papain. Under optimal lipolysis conditions at pH 8.0 and 10 min of incubation time, maximal activities were observed at 45, 55, and 50 degrees C, respectively, for E. characias latex, crude bromelain, and crude papain, Commercially available crude preparations of bromelain exhibited very poor hydrolysis activity. Latex from E. characias, which contained 340 mg of dried material per milliliter of fresh latex, exhibited a high lipase activity and a short-chain fatty acid preference in the hydrolysis of homogeneous TAG. For all substrates, it showed a better activity than crude papain. Lipase fatty acid typoselectivities of crude bromelain and crude papain also were studied in interesterification reactions of tributyrin with a series of homogeneous TAG. Experiments showed that crude bromelain [water activity (A(w)): 0.21] had no activity in interesterification. Regarding reactions with crude papain (A(w): 0.55), yields of newly formed TAG decreased with increasing chain length of TAG, except for the reaction with trimargarin. For interesterification of tributyrin with unsaturated TAG, triolein reacted faster than polyunsaturated TAG. During these interesterification reactions, the proportion of new TAG with two butyroyl residues was higher than new TAG with only one butyroyl residue. This phenomenon was more pronounced for reactions with long-chain TAG.