Production of modified lipid with incorporation of essential amino acids into refined olive pomace oil and its characterization

The objective of this thesis was to synthesize and characterize a novel modified lipid which is composed of mainly oleic acid at sn-2 position and hydrophobic essential amino acid derivatives at sn-1(3) or sn-1,3 positions. In the first part, 2-monoacylglycerol (2-MAG) with a high content of oleic acid at sn-2 position was synthesized by enzymatic ethanolysis of refined olive pomace oil (ROPO). Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize reaction conditions; time (4-10 h), temperature (45-60ºC), enzyme load (10-18 wt%) and ethanol:oil molar ratio (30:1-60:1). The highest 2-MAG yield (85%) was obtained at 45ºC using 10 (wt%) enzyme load and 50:1 ethanol:oil molar ratio for 5 h reaction time. The purity of the obtained 2-MAG was determined as higher than 96%. In the second part, method for the incorporation of N-acetyl-L-leucine and N-acetyl-L-valine into purified 2-MAG was developed. RSM was applied to enhance an empirical model for prediction and to optimize reaction conditions; reaction time (8–24 h), reaction temperature (40–55ºC), enzyme load (15–30 wt%). The optimum reaction conditions were determined as temperature 54ºC, time 8 h, enzyme load 15 (wt%) for the maximum N-acetyl-L-leucine incorporated product yield (29%). Besides, the temperature 55ºC, time 24 h, enzyme load 30 (wt%) were found for the maximum N-acetyl-L-valine incorporated product yield (16%). Some chemical and physical properties of the products were compared to ROPO and similarites and differences were introduced. The caloric values of the products were reduced 18% compared to that of ROPO.