POSTPRINT Acetylation Vitamin E
POSTPRINT Acetylation Vitamin E
POSTPRINT Acetylation Vitamin E
http://www.icp.csic.es/abg
1
ABSTRACT
We describe for the first time the enzymatic acylation of the phenolic group of tocopherols
hydrolases screened, only the lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) catalyzed
the acylation. The acetylation of -tocopherol was faster than that of -tocopherol, probably
due to its lower methylation degree. A series of experiments using (R)-Trolox and p-cresol as
competitive acceptors of tocopherols showed that reaction rate notably diminished when
increasing acceptor size. To maximize the potential of this reaction, three immobilization
carriers for C. antarctica lipase B were studied: the ion-exchange resin Lewatit (the support
The acetylation of -tocopherol was faster with the enzyme immobilized in polypropylene,
which was correlated with its higher porosity. A mixture hexane/2M2B 90:10 (v/v) was found
solubility and biocatalyst efficiency. The acylation process was no enantioselective, probably
due to the fact that the chiral centers are separated from the phenolic group by a minimum of
six bonds.
antioxidants modification.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Antioxidants protect cells against the effects of harmful free radicals and play an
important role in preventing many human diseases (e.g. cancer, atherosclerosis, stroke,
[1;2]. The study of antioxidants is of great interest for the role they play in protecting living
systems against lipid peroxidation and other anomalous molecular modifications [3]. In
addition, antioxidant molecules also prevent unsaturated oil products from becoming rancid
Among the natural antioxidants, the term vitamin E describes the beneficial biological
activity on humans and animals of a group of structurally related compounds, in particular ,
-, and -tocopherol, plus, -, and -tocotrienol [6]. Vitamin E enhances the
oxidative stability of the organisms owing to its ability to protect polyunsaturated fatty acids
from peroxidation and to scavenge free radicals. Tocopherols have three chiral centers at
carbons 2, 4’- and 8’-, and the naturally occurring isomer has the RRR-configuration (Fig. 1),
whereas tocotrienols have only one anomeric center at carbon 2 [7]. It is generally accepted
that the RRR--tocopherol is the most bioactive compound [8] as it is specifically recognized
by membranes [9]. For example, the isomer with inverted stereochemistry at position 2 has
only 30% of the biological activity of the RRR isomer. The synthetic vitamin E (-tocopherol)
stereochemistry, and comprises a mixture of four pairs of enantiomers in equal amounts (all-
rac). Synthetic tocopherols are not as biologically active as natural, due to non-active
stereoisomers [11].
To increase its stability in the presence of light and oxygen and/or to alter its physical
succinate (vitamin E succinate). These derivatives carry an acetyl moiety at the C-6 phenolic
group that blocks the antioxidant properties [12]. However, unspecific esterases rapidly
3
cleave in vivo the ester bond and release the active -tocopherol. The vitamin E acetate is
as acyl donors and a metal catalyst [13]. The enzymatic acetylacion or succinylation of
vitamin E has not been described before, probably due to the large molecular size of the
acceptor (tocopherol) and its steric hindrance within the active site of the enzyme.
In the present work, we have studied the enzymatic synthesis of vitamin E acetate by
composition on acylation rate. Our results suggest that Candida antarctica lipase B offers
4
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Materials
Immobilized lipase from C. antarctica B (Novozym 435) was kindly donated by Novozymes
A/S. A small sample of lipase B from C. antarctica adsorbed on Accurel EP100 and Purasorb
was prepared by Novozymes A/S in the context of the collaborative EU project BIO4-CT98-
0363 following the protocol previously reported [14]. All-rac--tocopherol was kindly provided
laurate, propyl laurate and 2-methyl-2-butanol (tert-amyl alcohol) were from Sigma. (R)-6-
cresol were from Aldrich. Solvents were dried over 3 Å molecular sieves. All other reagents
Hydrolytic activity
The hydrolytic activity was measured titrimetrically at pH 7.0 and 30 C using a pH-stat
(Mettler, Model DL 50). The reaction mixture consisted of 0.8 ml tributyrin (64.2 mM final
concentration in the vessel), 1.2 ml acetonitrile and 40 ml of 1 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.0)
containing 0.1 M NaCl. The immobilized biocatalyst (5 mg) was then added and the pH
automatically maintained at 7.0 using 0.1 N NaOH as titrant. Experiments were done in
triplicate. One enzyme unit (U) was defined as that catalyzing the formation of 1 µmol of fatty
Synthetic activity
To determine the activity in synthesis, methyl laurate (50 mM) and 1-propanol (50 mM) were
dissolved in 5 ml hexane in a screw-capped test vial, and stirred for 15 min at 30 °C. Then,
the immobilized biocatalyst (75 mg) was added, and the mixture incubated at 30 °C and 150
rpm using an orbital shaker (Stuart Scientific). At defined intervals, 50 µl aliquots were taken,
5
centrifuged and filtered using an eppendorf tube with a 0.45 m filter (Ultrafree-MC,
Millipore). The formation of propyl laurate was followed by HPLC. One enzyme unit (U) was
defined as that catalyzing the formation of 1 µmol of propyl laurate per min.
Water activity
Water activity was determined using a humidity and temperature digital indicator Novasina
Thermoconstanter TH200 (Novasina, Switzerland). The humidity sensor was calibrated with
control saturated salts solutions (LiCl, aw=0.11; potassium acetate, aw=0.22; NaBr, aw=0.57;
Tocopheryl acetate was synthesized by transesterification of vinyl acetate (100-400 mM) with
(2M2B) in sealed 30 ml dark vials at 60 ºC with orbital stirring (190 rpm). Reaction volume
was 5 ml. The biocatalyst was added to a final concentration of 100 mg/ml. Aliquots (200 l)
were removed at intervals, filtered using an eppendorf tube containing a Durapore® 0.45 m
-Tocopherol or -tocopherol (50 mM) and (R)-Trolox or p-cresol (50 mM) were dissolved in
2M2B containing vinyl acetate (400 mM). Reactions were carried out at 60 ºC with orbital
shaking (190 rpm) in sealed 30 ml vials. Reaction volume was 5 ml. The biocatalyst was
added to a final concentration of 100 mg/ml. Aliquots (200 l) were removed at intervals,
filtered using an eppendorf tube with a 0.45 m filter (Ultrafree-MC, Millipore), and analyzed
by HPLC.
6
HPLC analysis
For HPLC analysis, a ternary pump (model 9012, Varian) coupled to a thermostatized (15 ºC)
autosampler (VWR Hitachi L-2200) was used. The temperature of the column was kept
constant at 45 C (oven model MEF-01, Análisis Vínicos, Spain). Detection was performed
using a photodiode array detector (ProStar, Varian), and integration was carried out using
the Varian Star LC workstation 6.41. For tocopheryl acetate synthesis, the column was a
Lichrospher 100 RP8 (4.6 x 125 mm, 5 m, Análisis Vínicos). Mobile phase was 95:5 (v/v)
methanol:water (water contained 0.1% of acetic acid) at 1 ml/min. The reaction products
were quantified by measuring the absorbance at 240 nm. For propyl laurate synthesis, the
column was a Mediterranea-C18 (4.6 x 150 mm, 5 m, Teknokroma, Spain). The mobile
phase was 95:5 (v/v) methanol:water (water contained 0.1% of acetic acid) at 1.2 ml/min,
and the analytes were quantified by measuring the absorbance at 216 nm.
HPLC/MS
To confirm the nature of the acetylated phenolic derivatives, samples were analyzed by
Chromatographic conditions were as described above, except for the mobile phase
contained 1% (v/v) formic acid and the flow rate was lowered to 0.6 ml/min. Ionization was
performed by electrospray and the mass spectrometer had a hybrid analyzer QTOF model
Mercury intrusion porosimetry analyses of the biocatalysts were performed using a Fisons
Instruments Pascal 140/240 porosimeter. To ensure that the samples were moisture free,
they were dried at 100 ºC overnight, prior to measurement. Assuming a cylindrical pore
model, the recommended values for the mercury contact angle (141°) and surface tension
(484 mN/m) were used to evaluate the pressure/volume data by the Washburn equation. The
7
specific surface area (SBET) of the supports was determined from analysis of nitrogen
adsorption isotherms at -196 °C. The samples were previously degassed at 100 °C for 12 h
to a residual vacuum of 5x10-3 torr, to remove any loosely held adsorbed species, using a
Micromeritics ASAP 2010 device. Water content of the supports was assayed using a DL31
Karl-Fisher titrator (Mettler). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed using an
8
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
rumen microflora [15] and one from Urania hypersaline basin [16], obtained using
metagenomic techniques, were tested . An sterol esterase from the ascomycete Ophiostoma
piceae obtained as previously described [17] was also assayed. Some of the hydrolases
Among all the enzymes tested, only the immobilized lipase B from C. antarctica (Novozym
435) catalyzed this reaction significantly, although the acylation was slow compared with
other processes involving the same biocatalyst and more simple primary or secondary
alcohols. For the rest of hydrolases, -tocopherol was probably too large to fit into the
acceptor binding site and thus attack the intermediate acetyl-enzyme yielding the tocopheryl
ester [19]. The lipases from Candida rugosa and Pseudomonas cepacia, despite their
notable transesterification activity towards large hydroxylated substrates [20], did not
demonstrated that the acceptor binding site of lipase B from C. antarctica is deep (compared
with other lipases, e.g. from Thermomyces lanuginosus) [21], which partly explains the
broader specificity of C. antarctica lipase B [22;23]. In addition, Salis et al. reported that the
atypical lipase B from C. antarctica is very well adapted for catalysis in organic media [24]. In
fact, the lipase B from C. antarctica is the preferred biocatalyst for many esterification and
of acyl donor [31], but these routes do not meet the necessary requirements for food
9
applications. In contrast, this biocatalytic process is performed under milder conditions and
A comparative study was carried out assaying - and -tocopherol as acceptors under
more drastic conditions than in the initial screening. We first analyzed the effect of the molar
ratio tocopherol:vinyl acetate (data not shown). We found that a molar ratio 1:4 was optimal
in terms of acylation rate without the need of increasing the concentration of acyl donor. Final
conditions assayed were: 100 mM tocopherol, 400 mM vinyl acetate, 100 mg/ml biocatalyst,
60 ºC. As shown in Fig. 2, the reaction rate was higher with -tocopherol, which rendered
65% yield of acetylated product in approx. 2 weeks. The reproducibility of the assays was
satisfactory, with standard deviations lower than 5 %. This different behaviour seems to be
related with the lower methylation degree of -tocopherol (Fig. 1), which diminishes the steric
The molecular weight of the synthesized products was determined by HPLC coupled to
mass spectrometry to confirm their chemical nature (Fig. 3). In the case of -tocopherol
reaction, the main peak at m/z 473.44 corresponded to the ([M+H]+) of -tocopherol acetate
(MW 472.74). For -tocopherol acetate (MW 444.68), the main peak in the mass spectrum at
m/z 462.44 corresponded to the ([M+NH4]+) with a minor ([M+H]+) peak at 445.42.
bi-bi ping-pong mechanism, and the alcohols used as acyl acceptors display competitive
substrate inhibition [33]. A series of competitive reactions between tocopherol and other
phenolic acceptors were performed to evaluate the effect of molecular size on the acylation
rate. (R)-Trolox presents the same chromanol ring of -tocopherol −which is responsible of
the antioxidant properties− but lacks of the aliphatic chain (Fig. 1), and p-cresol is quite a
smaller molecule. Fig. 4 illustrates the reaction progress using the following pairs of
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tocopherol/p-cresol. The formation of (R)-Trolox acetate and p-tolyl acetate was confirmed by
HPLC/MS (data not shown). As depicted in Fig. 4, the reaction with Trolox was notably faster
than the observed with - or -tocopherol, suggesting that the main steric hindrance is
probably caused by the aliphatic chain rather than the chromanol ring. When using a simple
phenol such as p-cresol, the reaction is nearly one order of magnitude faster than with
tocopherols.
substrate, being specially indicated for synthetic processes in non-aqueous solvents [34].
Several parameters of immobilized lipases are important to consider for industrial application:
enzyme loading capacity and cost, to cite some. A comparative study with the C. antarctica
lipase B adsorbed on the ion-exchange resin Lewatit (Novozym 435), polypropylene (Accurel
EP100) and Purasorb (a biodegradable polymer based on lactide and glycolide monomers)
was performed in the acetylation of -tocopherol (Fig. 5). The hydrolytic activity (measured
with tributyrin) of the different immobilizates and their transesterification activity in a model
reaction (methyl laurate with propanol in hexane to yield propyl laurate) are reported in Table
2. It is interesting to note that Novozym 435 presents the highest hydrolytic and synthetic
activities.
For -tocopherol acetylation, the biocatalysts were first dehydrated to reduce the total
amount of water in the system and thus minimize the formation of acetic acid. Final water
content was less than 1% w/w (Table 2). The hydrolysis of vinyl acetate to acetic acid is an
undesirable side reaction also catalysed by the lipase, and competes with the acylation
process. Most of the water in the reaction mixture comes from the biocatalyst and the
solvents. A careful control of the amount of water in the system by addition of molecular
sieves, drying the biocatalyst, etc. is crucial in terms of yield and downstream processing
11
(the fatty acid must be removed from the final product). It has been reported that dehydration
of the biocatalyst in a vacuum dessicator usually increases the transferase to hydrolase ratio
[35]. However, water activity (aw) is preferred to water concentration for describing the
hydration level of a system [14;36]. We measured the aw of the three biocatalysts assayed,
Novozym 435 and Purasorb (Fig. 5). To explain these differences, the textural properties of
porosimetry analyses (Table 2). Fig. 6 represents the total pore volume curves for these
carriers. The polypropylene biocatalyst presented a substantially higher total pore volume
(approx. 13 cm3/g) than Purasorb (0.8 cm3/g) and Lewatit (0.6 cm3/g). The average pore size
was also larger for Accurel EP100 and Purasorb (100-900 nm) compared with Novozym 435
(< 100 nm). The SEM pictures showed the presence in polypropylene of a channel structure
(with diameters of approx. 10 m), which facilitates the internal diffusion of substrates and
products (Fig. 7). The specific surface area of the three biocatalysts was low (< 70 m2/g) as
expected for macroporous carriers. These results may help to explain the differences in
acetylation of tocopherols, as large pores facilitate the contact between the enzyme and the
bulky acceptor. Compared with the model transesterification reaction involving a small
acceptor (propanol) in which Novozym 435 gave the highest activity (Table 2), the Accurel
EP100 biocatalyst was the most efficient for acetylation of vitamin E. However, other
parameters such as the local effects derived from the chemical nature of the carrier (esp. the
The mixtures of miscible solvents have been successfully applied to the enzymatic
a compromise between substrates solubility and enzyme efficiency [19]. In the present work,
12
tocopherol (Fig. 8). Using Novozym 435 as biocatalyst, the yield was higher when increasing
hexane concentration up to 90% (v/v). However, a minimum of 10% (v/v) 2M2B was
necessary for efficient transesterification, which seems to be related with the solubilization of
vinyl acetate.
The effect of temperature (in the range 40-60 ºC) on -tocopherol acetylation in
2M2B/hexane 90:10 (v/v) was analyzed (Fig. 9). The fastest reaction was observed at 60 ºC,
at which C. antarctica lipase B is known to be highly stable and can be used without
Attempts are being made to develop an efficient and stereocontrolled synthesis of the
[20;42], and in particular of the lipase B from C. antarctica [40;43], one could expect different
mM vinyl acetate, hexane/2M2B 90:10 (v/v), 100 mg/ml Novozym 435, 60 °C. We found that
the acylation rate was very similar with both substrates (data not shown). This implies that
the degree of chiral recognition is low, probably due to the fact that the chiral centers are
separated by at least six bonds from the phenolic group that is being acetylated by the lipase
(Fig. 1). In this context, Zahalka et al. succeeded in the enantiospecific hydrolysis of -
tocopheryl acetate by a cholesterol esterase [44]. They added chiral bile salts to emulsify the
substrate, which may exert influences upon the epimeric acetates induced within the mixed
micelle itself, or alternatively, may arise from direct bile salt-enzyme interactions. The nature
of the solvent and the length of the acyl donor may also modulate the enantiopurity of the
13
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Morten Christensen and Lotte Andersen (Novozymes A/S) for technical
help. We thank Ana V. Ugidos and Soledad Peña (Biotecnologías Aplicadas, BTSA, Spain)
for technical information and suggestions. We are grateful to Dr. Karl Hult (Royal Institute of
Technology, Sweden) for practical suggestions. We thank Ramiro Martínez (Novozymes A/S
Spain) for technical help. We thank Dr. M. L. Rojas-Cervantes (UNED, Spain) and Dr. M.
Yates (ICP, CSIC, Spain) for porosity measurements. This research was supported by the
14
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[8] Lang JK, Schillaci M, Irvin B. Vitamin E. In: De Leenheer AP, Lambert WE, Nelis HJ,
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[9] Cerecetto H, Lopez GV. Antioxidants derived from vitamin E: An overview. Mini-Rev
1999;13:1145-1155.
[12] Schneider C. Chemistry and biology of vitamin E. Mol Nutr Food Res 2005;49:7-30.
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MM, Timmis KN, Golyshin PN. Microbial enzymes mined from the Urania deep-sea
16
[17] Calero-Rueda O, Plou FJ, Ballesteros A, Martinez AT, Martinez MJ. Production,
[18] Torres P, Datla A, Rajasekar VW, Zambre S, Ashar T, Yates M, Rojas-Cervantes ML,
[19] Plou FJ, Cruces MA, Ferrer M, Fuentes G, Pastor E, Bernabe M, Christensen M,
with fatty acids: choosing the appropriate enzyme, support and solvent. J Biotechnol
2002;96:55-66.
[21] Pleiss J, Fischer M, Schmid RD. Anatomy of lipase binding sites: the scissile fatty
Biochemistry-US 1995;34:16838-16851.
17
[24] Salis A, Svensson I, Monduzzi M, Solinas V, Adlercreutz P. The atypical lipase B
from Candida antarctica is better adapted for organic media than the typical lipase
Biotransfor 2002;20:437-439.
Biotransfor 2005;23:19-27.
[29] Teng RW, Bui TKA, McManus D, Armstrong D, Mau SL, Bacic A. Regioselective
[31] Oost, C., Kaibel, G., Laas, H., Schmitt, P., and von Erden, J. Method for continuously
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[32] Alcalde M, Ferrer M, Plou FJ, Ballesteros A. Environmental biocatalysis: from
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[36] Chamouleau F, Coulon D, Girardin M, Ghoul M. Influence of water activity and water
Enzym 2001;11:949-954.
1999;65:10-16.
[38] Pedersen NR, Wimmer R, Emmersen J, Degn P, Pedersen LH. Effect of fatty acid
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19
[41] Nozawa M, Takahashi K, Kato K, Akita H. Enantioselective synthesis of (2R,4'R,8'R)-
2000;48:272-277.
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20
Table 1. Screened hydrolases for acetylation of -tocopherol
21
Table 2. Properties of the C. antarctica lipase B (CALB) immobilizates.
CALB/Accurel
67.8 13 1.9 0.7 2310 29.4
EP100
a
Measured by N2 adsorption.
b
By combination of N2 isotherms and Hg porosimetry.
c
Determined by Karl-Fisher titration before and after dehydration.
d
Measured with tributyrin.
e
Measured in the test reaction between methyl laurate and 1-propanol.
22
Figure legends
Fig. 1. Structure of - and -tocopherol (the location of the three chiral centers is marked
Fig. 2. Kinetics of -tocopherol (O) and -tocopherol (●) acetylation in 2M2B catalyzed by
Fig. 3. Molecular weight determination of -tocopheryl acetate (A) and -tocopheryl acetate
mM (R)-Trolox or p-cresol, 400 mM vinyl acetate, 100 mg/ml Novozym 435, 60 C.
immobilized in three different supports: (▲) Accurel EP100; (O) Lewatit (Novozym 435); (■)
Purasorb. Experimental conditions: 100 mM -tocoferol, 400 mM vinyl acetate, 100 mg/ml
biocatalyst, 60 C.
Fig. 6. Total pore volume of the biocatalysts determined by combination of N2 adsorption and
mercury intrusion porosimetry data. (A) Novozym 435; (B) CALB/Purasorb; (C)
CALB/Accurel EP100.
Fig. 7. Scanning electron micrographs of the biocatalysts studied (A) 60x; (B) 500x.
23
Fig. 8. Effect of hexane percentage (v/v) in mixtures 2M2B/hexane on -tocopheryl acetate
synthesis. Experimental conditions: 100 mM -tocopherol, 400 mM vinyl acetate, 100 mg/ml
Experimental conditions: 100 mM -tocopherol, 400 mM vinyl acetate, 100 mg/ml Novozym
24
Fig. 1
HO
5 4
6 3
7 2
8 1 2' 4'
* 6' 8'
* 10' 12'
O * 1' 3' 5' 7' 9' 11'
-tocopherol
HO
5 4
6 3
7 2
8 1 2' 4'
* 8'
* 10' 12'
6'
O * 1' 3' 5' 7' 9' 11'
-tocopherol
HO O
HO
OH
O
(R)-Trolox p-cresol
25
Fig. 2
80
60
Yield (%)
40
20
0
0 3 6 9 12 15 18
26
Fig. 3
100 A 473.4433
90
80
Relative intensity (%)
70
60
490.4741
50
40
967.8576
30 495.4287
20
10 962.9058
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
m/z
100 B 462.4469
90
80
Relative intensity (%)
70
60
50
40
906.8603
445.4215
30
20 912.8163
10
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
m/z
27
Fig. 4
p-tolyl acetate
p-tolyl acetate
-tocopheryl acetate
-tocopheryl acetate
60 60
50 50
[Acetylated product] (mM)
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
25 25
[Acetylated product] (mM)
20 20
15 15
10
10
5
5
0
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Reaction time (hours) Reaction time (hours)
28
Fig. 5
60
Yield (%)
40
20
0
3 6 9 12 15 18
29
Fig. 6
0.7
0.6 A
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
10 100 1000
1.0
0.9 B
0.8
Cumulative volume (cm3/g)
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
10 100 1000
14
13
C
12
11
Cumulative volume (cm3/g)
10
0
10 100 1000
30
Fig. 7
30 m
30 m 30 m
31
Fig. 8
16
14
12
10
Yield (%)
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Hexane (%)
32
Fig. 9
30
25
20
Yield (%)
15
10
0
0 2 4 6
33