Highly efficient solvent-free synthesis of 1,3-diacylglycerols by lipase immobilised on nano-sized magnetite particles

Recently, 1,3-DAGs (1,3-diacylglycerols) have attracted considerable attention as healthy components of food, oil and pharmaceutical intermediates. Generally, 1,3-DAG is prepared by lipase-mediated catalysis in a solvent free system. However, the system’s high reaction temperature (required to reach the reactants’ melting point), high substrate concentration and high viscosity severely reduce the lipase’s activity, selectivity and recycling efficiency. In this report, MjL (Mucor javanicus lipase) was found to have the best performance in the solvent-free synthesis of 1,3-DAGs of several common commercial lipases. By covalent binding to amino-group-activated NSM (nano-sized magnetite) particles and cross-linking to form an enzyme aggregate coat, MjL’s specific activity increased 10-fold, and was able to be reused for 10 cycles with 90% residual activity at 55 °C. 1,3-DAGs of lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid were prepared using the resulting immobilised enzyme, all with yields greater than 90%, and the reaction time was also greatly reduced.