Specificity of Carica papaya Latex as Biocatalyst in the Esterification of Fatty Acids with 1-Butanol

Abstract

Papaya (Carica papaya) latex, reportedly known to have good lipolytic activity, has been evaluated as biocatalyst in the esterification of various fatty acids with 1-butanol in the presence of myristic acid as the reference standard. C. papaya latex strongly discriminates against fatty acids having a cis-4 unsaturation, e.g. all-cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid, cis-6 unsaturation, e.g. petroselinic (cis-6-octadecenoic), γ-linolenic (all-cis-6,9,12-octadecatrienoic), and stearidonic (all-cis-6,9,12,15-octadecatetraenoic) acids, and cis-8 unsaturation, e.g. dihomo-γ-linolenic (all-cis-8,11,14-eicosatrienoic) acid. Fatty acids having cis-5 unsaturation, e.g. all-cis-5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid, and those having a cis-9 unsaturation, e.g. oleic (cis-9-octadecenoic) and α-linolenic (all-cis-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic) acids are very well accepted as substrates. Fatty acids having hydroxy groups, e.g. ricinoleic (12-hydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoic) acid and 12-hydroxystearic acid, epoxy groups, e.g. trans-9,10-epoxystearic acid, and cyclopentenyl groups, e.g. hydnocarpic [(11-(2‘-cyclopentenyl)undecanoic] acid and chaulmoogric [13-(2‘-cyclopentenyl)tridecanoic] acid are also well accepted as substrates. The observed substrate specificities are similar to those reported for lipase preparations from microorganisms, animals, and plants. Keywords: Carica papaya latex; plant lipase, biocatalyst; enzymatic esterification; fatty acid specificity

Lipases de látex vegetais: propriedades e aplicações industriais

“…Na esterificação com 1-butanol, a lipase também apresentou preferência por ácidos graxos com grupos epóxi, hidróxi e ciclopentanil ligados em sua estrutura e que são pouco comuns na natureza, quando comparados com o ácido oléico. Esses resultados apoiam os estudos realizados anteriormente com outras lipases de origens microbiana e vegetal (sementes) 37 . A lipase do látex de C. papaya também foi seletiva para álco-ois aromáticos, em que a velocidade relativa de esterificação do álcool benzílico foi nove vezes maior que com o 1-octanol.…”

“…Na reação com álcoois terpênicos, foi obtida maior atividade com β-citronelol em comparação a geraniol, nerol e terpineol 35 . Essa elevada seletividade em reação de esterificação garante à lipase do látex de C. papaya inúmeras aplicações industriais, tais como enriquecimento de ácidos graxos contendo cis-4, cis-6 e cis-8 insaturações a partir de misturas com outros ácidos através de resolução cinética 37 ; síntese de ésteres caprilatos a partir de álco-ois primários de cadeia média 36 e síntese de aromas 35 .…”

Synthesis of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester from Palm Oil using Crude Lipase from Papaya Latex and Rice Bran

“…However, plant origin lipase has not or less been explored yet, although some plant extracts have been studied and showed lipolytic activities . Carica papaya latex is well known as a source of protease, some previous studies shown it has lipase activity (Giordani et al, 1991;Villeneuve et al, 1995;Mukherjee and Kiewitt, 1996;Gandi andMukherjee, 2000, Suhardi et al, 2004;Indrati et al 2004). Several studies on rice bran have also found lipase activity (Funatsu et al, 1971;Herawan, 2004, Hutomo et al, 2002.…”

Effect of water content and temperature onCarica papayalipase catalyzed esterification and transesterification reactions

“…In contrast, the optimal activity temperature for bacterial lipases is between 37°C and 65°C with a majority being at 50-65°C [10,11]. Over the past few years, a large body of work has been reported on reactions catalyzed by plant lipases [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. From an industrial viewpoint, crude plant extracts are readily available and generally are low cost materials.…”

“…Moreover, several plant lipases are obtained as naturally supported crude preparations [16]. Recent work in particular has pointed out that Carica papaya latex exhibits a powerful lipase activity for catalyzing hydrolysis [17,18], esterification [19,20] and interesterification type reactions [18,[21][22][23][24]. Optimal reaction conditions, however, regarding the affect of temperature and level of hydration of the crude enzyme preparation were not reported in detail.…”