School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology.
Guangdong Youmei Institute of Intelligent Bio-manufacturing Co., Ltd.
J Oleo Sci. 2024;73(8):1045-1055. doi: 10.5650/jos.ess24072.
Docosahexaenoic acid plays a crucial role in infant brain function, and the market demand of high-purity docosahexaenoic acid is continuously increasing. The availability of docosahexaenoic acid in natural fish oil is limited, prompting the exploration of alternative sources like microalgae. For algal oil, enzymatic ethanolysis is preferred to chemical methods because the former is milder and can avoid docosahexaenoic acid oxidation. However, enzymatic methods have generally low yield due to the poor substrate-specificity of lipase to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, affecting the yield and purity of docosahexaenoic acid. Therefore, we developed an efficient process to produce high-purity docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester from algal oil, by screening lipases, optimizing enzymatic ethanolysis and applying molecular distillation. Lipase UM1 was the best lipase to produce ethyl ester from algal oil with the highest ethyl ester yield (95.41%). Meanwhile, it was a catalyst for the reaction of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids with ethanol. The fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid conversion rates exceeded 90%. After molecular distillation, a final product containing 96.52% ethyl ester was obtained with a docosahexaenoic acid content up to 80.11%. Our findings provide an highly effective enzymatic method for the production of high-purity docosahexaenoic acid ethyl esters, with potential commercial applications.
二十二碳六烯酸在婴儿的大脑功能中起着至关重要的作用，高纯度二十二碳六烯酸的市场需求不断增加。天然鱼油中二十二碳六烯酸的供应量有限，这促使人们探索藻类等替代来源。对于藻类油，酶法乙醇解优于化学法，因为前者更温和，可以避免二十二碳六烯酸的氧化。然而，由于脂肪酶对长链多不饱和脂肪酸的底物特异性较差，酶法的产率一般较低，这会影响二十二碳六烯酸的产率和纯度。因此，我们通过筛选脂肪酶、优化酶法乙醇解和应用分子蒸馏，开发了一种从藻类油生产高纯度二十二碳六烯酸乙酯的高效工艺。脂肪酶 UM1 是从藻类油生产乙酯的最佳脂肪酶，乙酯得率最高（95.41%）。同时，它也是长链多不饱和脂肪酸与乙醇反应的催化剂。脂肪酸二十二碳六烯酸的转化率超过 90%。经过分子蒸馏，最终得到的产物含有 96.52%的乙酯，二十二碳六烯酸含量高达 80.11%。我们的研究结果为高纯度二十二碳六烯酸乙酯的生产提供了一种高效的酶法，具有潜在的商业应用前景。
