Sunflower Lecithin: Application of a Fractionation Process with Absolute Ethanol

Abstract

Native or modified lecithins are widely used as a multifunctional ingredient in the food industry. A fractionation process of sunflower lecithin (a non GMO product) with absolute ethanol was used for obtaining enriched fractions in certain phospholipids under different experimental conditions (temperature 35-65°C, time of fractionation 30-90 min, ethanol/lecithin ratio 2:1, 3:1). Phospholipid enrichment in PC and PI fractions was obtained and analyzed by 31 P NMR determinations. The percent extraction coefficients for different phospholipids (%E PC , %E PE and %E PI ) in both fractions were calculated. Values of %E PC in PC fractions significantly increased (p \ 0.05) from 12.8 (35°C, 30 min, 2:1) to 57.7 (65°C, 90 min, 3:1) at increasing temperature and incubation time. %E PE varied from 3.0 to 18.3 in the same fraction while %E PI presented lower values (\3%) under all the conditions assayed. The study of the effect of the operating conditions on the fractionation process evidenced a relevant influence of temperature, incubation time and to a minor extent of the ethanol/lecithin ratio on the enriched fraction yield% and selectivity of the main phospholipids (PC, PI, PE) estimated by %E PL . Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to explain the influence of the different parameters to optimize this process.

Emulsifying properties of hydrolysed and low HLB sunflower lecithin mixtures

“…Lecithin is a mixture of acetone insoluble phospholipids, containing mainly phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol (PI), minor compounds such as phosphatidic acid (PA), and other minor substances such as carbohydrates [1]. Sunflower lecithin, i.e., a byproduct of the degumming process of oils [2,3], is an interesting alternative to soybean lecithin because it is considered as a non-GMO product, which is currently preferred by certain consumers.…”

“…Lecithins with different physicochemical and functional properties, with respect to native ones, can lead to obtain by chemical or enzymatic modification of their phospholipid composition [4]. Fractionation with ethanol or acetone [1,5,6] and the enzymatic hydrolysis [7,8] are the modification processes usually applied on native lecithins. Native and modified lecithins are used in a wide range of industrial applications: nutritional, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics, etc.…”

Quantitative NMR spectroscopy of biologically active substances and excipients

“…31 P NMR spectroscopy has become the universal method in phospholipid analysis [119][120][121] and is reference method of the ILPS (International Lecithin and Phospholipid Society). Especially the analyses of phospholipids, The lecithin analysis of different origin demonstrates its usefulness.…”

Untitled

“…In this regard, for genetically modified food-free food derivation, the EU prefers to use sunflower lecithins. [16] As a result of the conducted applied scientific research on a subject: "Development and transfer of green technologies for deep processing of grain and oilseeds to reduce losses from socially significant diseases" in the framework of the implementation of the measure 1.3 of the federal target program "Research and development in priority growth directions of scientific-technological complex of Russia for 2014-2020," a manufacturing-oriented comprehensive resource-saving technology for processing of cover-free sunflower seeds was developed to produce physiologically valuable oil, protein products, and fractionated lecithin.…”