Lipase-catalyzed modification of rice bran oil to incorporate capric acid

Capric acid (C10:0) was incorporated into rice bran oil with an immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor miehei as the biocatalyst. Effects of incubation time, substrate mole ratio, enzyme load, and water addition on mole percent incorporation of C10:0 were studied. Transesterification was performed in an organic solvent, hexane, and under solvent-free condition. Pancreatic lipase-catalyzed sn-2 positional analysis and tocopherol analysis were performed before and after enzymatic modification. Products were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) for fatty acid composition. After 24 h of incubation in hexane, there was an average of 26.5 +/- 1.8 mol % incorporation of C10:0 into rice bran oil. The solvent-free reaction produced an average of 24.5 +/- 3.7 mol % capric acid. In general, as the enzyme load, substrate mole ratio, and incubation time increased, the mole percent of capric acid incorporation also increased. Time course reaction indicated C10:0 incorporation increased up to 27.0 mol % at 72 h, for the reaction in hexane, and up to 29.6 mol % at 12 h, for the solvent-free reaction. The highest C10:0 incorporations (53.1 and 43.2 mol %) for the mole ratio experiment occurred at a mole ratio of 1:8 for solvent and solvent-free reactions, respectively. The highest C10:0 incorporation (27.9 mol. %) for the reaction in hexane occurred at 10% enzyme load, and the highest incorporation (34.4 mol %) for the solvent-free reaction occurred at 20% enzyme load. Incorporation of C10:0 into rice bran oil declined with the addition of increasing amounts of water after reaching 30.3 mol % at 2% water addition in hexane, and in the solvent-free reaction after reaching 35.9 mol %.