Enzymatic Synthesis of Polar Lipids Useful as Surfactants

3 Enzymatic Synthesis of Polar Lipids Useful as Surfactants 

Glycerophospholipids are important components of biological membranes and are thus widely spread in nature. Partially purified products are used for a variety of applications, with soya lecithin as a typical example. Enzymes can be used to modify glycerophospholipids in various ways and in the surfactant area removal of one of the fatty acids to make lysophospholipids is the most important example. Sometimes this reaction is carried out only to make it easier to remove the phospholipids fraction from the neutral fat, such as in the processing of vegetable oils. This enzymatic de-gumming is an important industrial process [20]. In other applications, lysophospholipids are produced in order to improve the emulsifying properties of the lipids. One such example is in the preparation of mayonnaise, with improved emulsion stability [21]. In this application, phospholipase A2 is used selectively to remove the fatty acid in the sn-2 position. 

---