Li_2010_Bioresour.Technol_101_1305

Lipase-catalyzed synthesis of L-menthyl conjugated linoleate in solvent-free system was studied in this paper. Duel response surface methodology was employed to explore the factors which would influence the reaction conversion by a range of independent experiments. The conditions of reaction temperature, reaction time, enzyme amount, substrate molar ratio and water content were symmetrically investigated. When the substrates were 1 mmol CLA and 1 mmol L-menthol, the maximum conversion (79.1+/-0.8%) was obtained at 30 degrees C, Candida rugosa lipase of 33.7% (w/w by weight of L-menthol), water content of 32% (w/w by weight of L-menthol), reaction time of 43 h. The product isomers (9Z,11E-/10E,12Z-=63/37) were analyzed by GC/MS. The similarity between the oleic acid and 9Z,11E-CLA conformations which were obtained by molecular modeling could account for the specific catalyzed by C. rugosa lipase.