ABSTRACT
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have various physiological functions and are used as pharmaceutical substances, ingredients of cosmetics, health foods, and food materials. PUFA-rich oil and a highly absorbable structured lipid with medium-chain fatty acid at 1,3 positions and functional fatty acid at the 2 position can be produced by taking advantage of lipase specificity, such as fatty acid and positional specificity. These highvalue-added lipids show greater physiological effects by a small intake. In addition, they are easily emulsified because the amount of addition can be reduced. On the other hand, highly purified PUFAs themselves are expected as pharmaceutical substances and ingredients of cosmetics and can be efficiently purified by enzymatic method. In this chapter, we describe the production of PUFA-rich oils by selective hydrolysis and the purification of free PUFAs by selective esterification.
