Recent advances and applications of the lipolytic activity of Carica papaya latex

An encapsulated report on enzyme-assisted transesterification with an allusion to lipase

Biodiesel is a renewable, sulfur-free, toxic-free, and low carbon fuel which possesses enhanced lubricity. Transesterification is the easiest method employed for the production of biodiesel, in which the oil is transformed into biodiesel. Biocatalyst-mediated transesterification is more advantageous than chemical process because of its non-toxic nature, the requirement of mild reaction conditions, absence of saponification, easy product recovery, and production of high-quality biodiesel. Lipases are found to be the primary enzymes in enzyme-mediated transesterification process. Currently, researchers are using lipases as biocatalyst for transesterification. Lipases are extracted from various sources such as plants, microbes, and animals. Biocatalyst-based biodiesel production is not yet commercialized due to high-cost of purified enzymes and higher reaction time for the production process. However, research works are growing in the area of various cost-effective techniques for immobilizing lipase to improve its reusability. And further reduction in the production cost of lipases can be achieved by genetic engineering techniques. The reduction in reaction time can be achieved through ultrasonic-assisted biocatalytic transesterification. Biodiesel production by enzymatic transesterification is affected by many factors. Various methods have been developed to control these factors and improve biodiesel production. This report summarizes the various sources of lipase, various production strategies for lipase and the lipase-mediated transesterification. It is fully focused on the lipase enzyme and its role in biodiesel production. It also covers the detailed explanation of various influencing factors, which affect the lipase-mediated transesterification along with the limitations and scope of lipase in biodiesel production.

The isolation and characterization of lipase from Carica papaya latex using zwitterion sodium lauroyl sarcosinate as agent

Most of industrial lipases are derived from microbial sources, following by a wide variety of plants. Among plant lipases, lipase from Carica papaya latex has been the focus of intense and growing research due to low cost, easy acceptance by consumers and its unique characteristics. This enzyme has been successfully applied for lipid modification and synthesis of some organic compounds. However, research for its molecular structure has been limited due to the difficulty to isolate the enzyme from the latex matrix. In this study, we suggested a modified approach using sodium lauroyl sarcosinate to solubilize the latex, then the protein was precipitated by ammonium sulphate. We also carried out the characterization of the lipase obtained from Carica papaya latex. The results showed that freeze-drying the fresh latex could improve significantly lipase activity of latex powder in comparison with sun-drying or oven-drying. The zwitterion sodium lauroyl sarcosinate could solubilize nearly 50% of the latex and the achieved supernatant exhibited great lipase activity. There was no need to use an organic solvent to delipidate the latex prior to solubilization with sodium lauroyl sarcosinate due to possible denaturation of enzymes. The proteins which were fractionally precipitated with 50 - 60%, 60 - 70% and 70 - 80% ammonium sulphate saturation showed lipolytic activity. The fraction from 50 - 60% saturation with the greatest mass was subjected to ion exchange chromatography, SDS electrophoresis and kinetic parameter determination. The results showed the presence of two proteins with molecular mass ranging from 35 kDa to 55 kDa and both presented lipase activity. The Km and Vmax of the lipase fraction from 50 - 60% saturation was 1.12 mM and 1.2 x 10-6 mM.min-1.mL-1 respectively. So, the freeze-drying of papaya latex could help to preserve its lipase activity and the usage of sodium lauroyl sarcosinate could improve the isolation of the lipase from the papaya latex and pave the way for research on the molecular structure of Carica papaya latex lipases.

Production of fatty acid butyl esters using the low cost naturally immobilized Carica papaya lipase

In this work, the low cost naturally immobilized Carica papaya lipase (CPL) was investigated for production of fatty acid butyl esters (FABE) to fulfill the aim of reducing the lipase cost in the enzymatic butyl-biodiesel process. The CPL showed specificities to different alcohol acyl acceptors. Alcohols with more than three carbon atoms did not have negative effects on the CPL activity. The CPL catalyzed butanolysis for FABE production was systematically investigated. The reaction solvent, alcohol/oil molar ratio, enzyme amount, reaction temperature, and water activity all affected the butanolysis process. Under the optimized conditions, the highest conversion of 96% could be attained in 24 h. These optimal conditions were further applied to CPL catalyzed butanolysis of other vegetable oils. All of them showed very high conversion. The CPL packed-bed reactor was further developed, and could be operated continuously for more than 150 h. All of these results showed that the low cost Carica papaya lipase can be used as a promising lipase for biodiesel production.

Lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of (±)-1-(2-furyl) ethanol in nonaqueous media

S-1-(2-Furyl) ethanol serves as an important chiral building block for the preparation of various natural products, fine chemicals, and is widely used in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In this work, lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of (R/S)-1-(2-furyl) ethanol using different acyl donors was investigated. Vinyl esters are good acyl donors vis-à-vis alkyl esters for kinetic resolution. Among them, vinyl acetate was found to be the best acyl donor. Different immobilized lipases such as Rhizomucor miehei lipase, Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase, and Candida antarctica lipase B were evaluated for this reaction, among which C. antarctica lipase B, immobilized on acrylic resin (Novozym 435), was found to be the best catalyst in n-heptane as solvent. The effect of various parameters was studied in a systematic manner. Maximum conversion of 47% and enantiomeric excess of the substrate (ees ) of 89% were obtained in 2 h using 5 mg of enzyme loading with an equimolar ratio of alcohol to vinyl acetate at 60 °C at a speed of 300 rpm in a batch reactor. From the analysis of progress curve and initial rate data, it was concluded that the reaction followed the ordered bi-bi mechanism with dead-end ester inhibition. Kinetic parameters were obtained by using nonlinear regression. This process is more economical, green, and easily scalable than the chemical processes.