Enzymatic Synthesis of Feruloylated Lipids: Comparison of the Efficiency of Vinyl Ferulate and Ethyl Ferulate as Substrates

A facile and efficient enzymatic synthesis approach to synthesize feruloylated lipids, which are composed of 1(3)-feruloyl-monooleyl-glycerol and 1(3)-feruloyl-dioleyl-glycerol, through lipase-catalyzed transesterification using vinyl ferulate (VF) and ethyl ferulate (EF) as substrate, respectively, with triolein was developed. When VF was used as substrate, a maximum of conversion yield of 91.1% was obtained at 55 °C, 20 mg/mL enzyme content, water activity (aw) = 0.07, 62 h. This was greater than that when EF was used as substrate (69.6%, 50 °C, 33.3 mg/mL enzyme content, aw = 0.07, 96 h). Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435) can be reused for 13 runs without evident loss in activity and stability when VF was used as substrate. The results demonstrate that VF has greater synthetic efficiency and it provides another effective approach to prepare feruloylated lipids under normal pressure, making industry application feasible.