Interesterifcation reactions, more commonly called ester-exchange, are a process by which the arrangement of fatty acids in the triacylglycerol molecule are changed. Ester-exchange reactions lead to a random distribution of fatty acids resulting in a triacylglycerol composition that is predictable from the overall fatty acid composition of the starting reaction mixture.<br/>In this report we synthesized various triacylglycerols containing different ratios of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as: acetic, propionic and butyric, with a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA) of lauric acid. The interesterification of these triacylglycerols was prepared by the NaOCH<sub>3 </sub>catalyzed interesterification of model reactions performed with different molar ratios of Triacetin, Tripropionin, Tributyrin and Trilaurin. The reaction products were characterized by Gas Chromatography (GC). We found that the difference in fatty acid size and the reduced steric demands of the SCFA did not give rise to positional specificity and we found no observable deviations from the random interesterification chemistry model.

Catalyzed interesterification of short and medium chain fatty acid triacylglycerols: Synthesis & characterization

251st National Meeting (2016)

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