Research Institute of Resources Insects, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
PLoS One. 2018 May 15;13(5):e0197343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197343. eCollection 2018.
Insect wax is a famous biological resource for the role in economic production in China. Insect wax is a good source of policosanol, which may is a candidate supplement in foodstuff and pharmaceuticals that has important physiological activities. Therefore, this work aims to investigate a high-yield and rapid method for policosanol fabrication from insect wax.
The conditions for policosanol fabrication were optimized as follows: an oil bath temperature of 112.7°C and reductant dosage of 0.97 g (used for the reduction of 10.00 g of insect wax). The yield of policosanol reached 83.20%, which was 4 times greater than that of existing methods, such as saponification. The total content of policosanol obtained under the optimal conditions reached 87%. In other words, a high yield of policosanol was obtained from insect wax (723.84 mg/g), that was 55 times higher than that generated from beeswax-brown via saponification. The concentrations of metal residues in policosanol were within the limits of the European Union regulations and EFSA stipulation. The LD50 values for oral doses of insect wax and policosanol were both > 5 g/kg.
Policosanol was fabricated via solvent-free reduction from insect wax using LiAlH4 at a high yield. The fabrication conditions were optimized. Policosanol and insect wax showed high security, which made them potential candidates as supplements in foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The rapid and high-yield method has great potential for commercial manufacturing of policosanol.
昆虫蜡在中国的经济生产中因其作用而成为一种著名的生物资源。昆虫蜡是一种很好的植物固醇来源，可能是食品和药品中具有重要生理活性的候选补充剂。因此，这项工作旨在研究一种从昆虫蜡中快速高效生产植物固醇的方法。
优化了生产植物固醇的条件：油浴温度为 112.7°C，还原剂用量为 0.97 g（用于还原 10.00 g 昆虫蜡）。植物固醇的产率达到 83.20%，是现有方法（如皂化法）的 4 倍。在最佳条件下获得的植物固醇总含量达到 87%。换句话说，从昆虫蜡（723.84 mg/g）中获得了高含量的植物固醇，是从蜂蜡-棕（通过皂化法）中获得的 55 倍。植物固醇中的金属残留浓度均在欧盟法规和 EFSA 规定的范围内。昆虫蜡和植物固醇的口服 LD50 值均>5 g/kg。
采用 LiAlH4 无溶剂还原法从昆虫蜡中高效制备植物固醇。优化了制备条件。植物固醇和昆虫蜡安全性高，有望成为食品、药品和化妆品的潜在补充剂。该快速高产方法具有在商业上大规模生产植物固醇的巨大潜力。
