Synthesis of MAG of CLA with Penicillium camembertii lipase

CLA has various physiological activities, and a FFA mixture containing almost equal amounts of cis‐9,trans‐11 and trans‐10,cis‐12 CLA (named FFA‐CLA) has been commercialized. We attempted to produce MAG of CLA by a two‐step successive reaction. The first step was esterification of FFA‐CLA with glycerol. A mixture of FFA‐CLA/glycerol (1∶5, mol/mol), 2 wt% water, and 200 units/g of Penicillium camembertii mono‐and diacylglycerol lipase was agitated at 30°C to form a homogeneous emulsion. The esterification degree reached 84% after 10 h. To further increase the degree, the reaction was continued with dehydration at 5 mm Hg. The esterification degree reached 95% after 24 h (34 h in total), and the reaction mixture contained 50 wt% MAG and 44 wt% DAG. The second step was glycerolysis of the resulting DAG. The reaction mixture in the first‐step esterification was transferred from the reactor to a beaker and was solidified by vigorous agitation on ice. When the solidified mixture was allowed to stand at 5°C for 15 d, glycerolysis of DAG proceeded successfully, and MAG content in the reaction mixture increased to 88.6 wt%. Hydrolysis of the acylglycerols was not observed during the second reaction. FA composition in the synthesized MAG was completely the same as that in the original FFA‐CLA, showing that Penicillium lipase does not have selectivity toward FA in the FFA‐CLA preparation.