ABSTRACT

Lipases (triacylglycerol acylhydrolases, EC 3.1.1.3) from various organisms have been used successfully as biocatalysts in bioorganic synthesis1-6 and modification of fats and other lipids via hydrolysis, esterification, and interesterification.7-10 Since many of the commercially available lipase preparations are rather expensive, their industrial use is justified mainly for the manufacture of products of good commercial value,10,11 such as purified fatty acids and lipids from inexpensive starting materials. This chapter covers the specificity of lipases in view of their application as biocatalyst in the fractionation of fatty acids and other lipids via kinetic resolution,12-15 which utilizes the difference in reactivities of individual constituents of a mixture in lipase-catalyzed reactions that enables the enrichment of the desired component in either the product or the unreacted substrate.