Intensified synthesis of a triglyceride of octanoic acid using sonication and assessment of its frying characteristics.

Intensification in synthesis of triglycerides of octanoic acid using a heterogeneous amberlyst-15 catalyst has been investigated with the application of ultrasound under solvent-free conditions. Further, the frying characteristics of medium-chain triglycerides (tricaprin) are evaluated by deep frying of French fries in various combinations of palm oil and tricaprin. Understanding into the effect of parameters such as the temperature of the reaction (over the range of 40 °C-80 °C), loading of amberlyst-15 (1%-5%) and molar ratio of fatty acid to glycerol (3:1-3:5) along with the ultrasound conditions as duty cycle (40%-90%) and time on the conversion (%) has also been developed. Based on the outcomes of the study, optimum reaction conditions seen are 3:4 as the molar ratio of fatty acid (C8): glycerol, amberlyst-15 loading of 3% and a reaction temperature of 50 °C. It was further observed that the optimum ultrasound conditions required for maximum conversion of 99.8% were 240 W power, 80% duty cycle and 15 min as the ultrasound irradiation time. Under similar conditions, the conventional synthesis resulted in only 20% conversion in 15 min. Reusability studies also established that the acid-resin catalyst was effectively reused for 8 times. The PV, p-AV and TPC of frying oil combination containing higher tricaprin (50:50-palm oil: MCT) was 8.4 ± 0.8, 23.1 ± 0.01 and 29.8 ± 0.01 respectively, which were lowest as compared with other blends indicating the beneficial effects of MCT in frying applications. The work clearly shows that the ultrasound application for the synthesis of triglyceride of octanoic acid gives higher conversion (%) in a less time and also demonstrates that MCT could be a good alternative for deep frying of foods in combination with palm oil to enhance the shelf-life of food. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05379-3. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2022.