Enzymatic hydrolysis of fractionated products from oils thermally oxidized in the laboratory.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of the acylglycerol products obtained from thermally oxidized vegetable oils was studied. Corn, sunflower and soybean oils were heated in the laboratory at 180 C for 50, 70 and 100 hr with aeration and directly fractionated by silicic acid column chromatography. By successive elution with 20%, then 60% isopropyl ether in n-hexane, and diethyl ether, the thermally oxidized oils were separated into three fractions: the nonpolar fraction (monomeric compounds), slightly polar fraction (dimeric compounds), and polar fraction comprising oligomeric compounds. Enzymatic hydrolysis with pancreatic lipase showed that the monomers were hydrolyzed as rapidly as the corresponding unheated oils, the dimers much more slowly, and the oligomeric compounds barely at all. Overall, the hydrolysis of the dimers was less than 23% of that for the monomers, with small differences among the oils. Longer heating periods resulted in greater reductions in hydrolysis of the dimeric compounds. These results suggest that the degree of enzymatic hydrolysis of the fractionated acylglycerol compounds is related to differences in the thermal oxidative deterioration, and amounts of polar compounds in the products.