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Synthesis of Phytosteryl Esters by Using Alumina-Supported Zinc Oxide (ZnO/Al2O3) from Esterification Production of Phytosterol with Fatty Acid

  • Original Paper
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Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

The feasibility of zinc oxide-catalyzed esterification of natural phytosterols with oleic acid was investigated well by a chemical process. The influences of various reaction parameters were evaluated. Basic solid zinc oxide is the most desirable catalyst due to its high selectivity (more than 90%), reusability, activity and less corrosivity, whereas sterol selectivity with other catalysts, such as H2SO4, NaHSO4 and NaOMe, did not exceed 80%. Further results showed that during zinc oxide-catalyzed synthesis, the nature of the acyl donor was of paramount importance with direct esterification with fatty acids, which gives better results with higher conversion rate selectivity and more mild reaction conditions than transesterification with methyl esters. The substrate molar ratio of 2:1 (oleic acid/phytosterol) was optimal. Other parameters such as optimal catalyst load (0.5%) and temperature (170 °C) showed a maximum production of steryl esters close to 98% after 8 h. It was also found that the amount of trans fatty acid formed in esterification was low, and the trans fatty acid content (%) in the phytosterol oleate ester fraction (3.26%) was much lower than that in free oleic oil (7.35%), which suggested that fatty acids in esters were more stable than free fatty acids regarding the combination with sterol. Immobilized ZnO could be a promising catalyst for replacing homogeneous and corrosive catalysts for esterification reactions of sterol.

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Acknowledgments

This investigation was supported by Zhejiang Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province of P.R. China (2007C32024, 2009C31140).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China

    Xianghe Meng

  2. Department of Application and Engineering, Zhejiang Economic and Trade Polytechnic, Hangzhou, China

    Qiuyue Pan

  3. School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

    Tiankui Yang

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  1. Xianghe Meng
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  2. Qiuyue Pan
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Correspondence to Xianghe Meng.

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Meng, X., Pan, Q. & Yang, T. Synthesis of Phytosteryl Esters by Using Alumina-Supported Zinc Oxide (ZnO/Al2O3) from Esterification Production of Phytosterol with Fatty Acid. J Am Oil Chem Soc 88, 143–149 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-010-1654-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-010-1654-2

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