Comparative Study of Soybean Oil and the Mixed Fatty Acids as Acyl Donors for Enzymatic Preparation of Feruloylated Acylglycerols in Ionic Liquids.

Feruloylated acylglycerols (FAGs) are the lipophilic derivatives of ferulic acid. In this work, soybean oil (SBO) and the mixed fatty acids (MFA) were selected as fatty acyl donors, and reacted with glyceryl monoferulate (GMF) to prepare FAGs in ionic liquids (ILs). Effect of various reaction parameters (time, temperature, enzyme concentration, and substrate ratio) and ILs on the GMF conversion and the reaction selectivity for FAGs formation were investigated. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on a 3-level-4-factor Box-Behnken experimental design was employed to evaluate the inactive effect of reaction parameters. For the esterification of GMF with MFA, the maximum GMF conversion (98.9 ± 0.9%) and FAG yield (88.9 ± 0.6%) were achieved in [C10mim]PF6. However, for the transesterification of GMF with SBO, the maximum GMF conversion (94.3 ± 0.7%) and FAG yield (83.8 ± 1.0%) were obtained in [C12mim]PF6. High FAG selectivities (∼0.90) were also obtained using SBO or MFA as acyl donors.