Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, McGill University,

21,111 Lakeshore, Ste-Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 3V9

The nutritional benefits of w-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the modulation of risk of a variety of diseases have been widely recognized. On the other hand, phenolic compounds represent another important group which possesses antioxidant and biological properties. The incorporation of phenolic acids into triacylglycerols by lipase-catalyzed reaction could potentially result in novel structured phenolic lipids, with enhanced antioxidative and functional properties. The presented work aimed at the optimization of an environmentally-friendly biotechnological process of selected phenolic lipids in solvent-free medium, by transesterification of flaxseed oil with selected phenolic acids. The highest bioconversion yield was obtained for the transesterification of flaxseed oil with 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl acetic and dihydrocaffeic acids, respectively. Structural analyses confirmed the formation of monolinolenyl, dilinolenyl, linoleyl linolenyl and oleyl linolenyl 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl acetates as phenolic lipids using 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl acetic acid. A bioconversion yield of 66.5% and an increase in the enzymatic activity from 200 to 250 nmol product/g solid enzyme/min was obtained upon the addition of the nonionic surfactant Span 65. There was also an increase in the productivity from 0.012 to 0.034 g phenolic lipids produced per g oil when increasing the phenolic acid concentration from 20 to 60 mM. This presentation will cover the overall work carried out in our laboratory that aimed at the development of biotechnological processes for the production of added-value novel anti-oxidant biomolecules by using enzyme technology.