Zheng_2008_J.Agric.Food.Chem_56_11493

Response surface methodology was successfully employed to optimize lipase-catalyzed synthesis of feruloyl butyryl glycerides (FBGs). The effects of the reaction parameters, including the reaction time, reaction temperature, enzyme concentration, substrate molar ratio, and water activity, and the interaction parameters were examined. The analysis suggested that the conversion of the FBGs was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by independent factors of reaction time, reaction temperature, substrate molar ratio, and water activity as well as interactive terms of reaction temperature/reaction time, reaction temperature/enzyme concentration, substrate molar ratio/reaction temperature, water activity/reaction temperature, reaction time/enzyme concentration, and enzyme concentration/water activity. The highest conversion yield of FBGs was 81.2% at the following optimized reaction conditions: reaction temperature of 53.6 degrees C, reaction time of 5.5 days, enzyme concentration of 50.8 mg/mL, water activity of 0.14, and substrate molar ratio of 2.9. The conversion is higher as compared to that at the conditions before optimization.