Fractionation procedures for obtaining cocoa butter equivalent from enzymatically interesterified high oleic sunflower oil

Solvent free lipase catalyzed incorporation of fatty acid mixture (MFA) in high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO) by the 1,3-regiospecific lipozyme RM IM resulted in the formation of a complex mixture of fatty acid glycerides and free fatty acids. The MFA incorporation in HOSO lead to the formation of the desired cocoa butter equivalent triacyl glycerols (TAGs), namely distearoyl-oleoyl-glycerol (SOS), palmitoyl-oleoyl-stearoylglycerol (POS) and dipalmitoyl-oleoyl-glycerol (POP). A combination of fractionation steps involving initially the removal of free fatty acids (FFA) from the product mixture by short path distillation under vacuum, followed by fractional crystallization of the (TAGs) in hexane and/or acetone, gave a fat, whose triglyceride composition and melting profile were comparable to that of cocoa butter as measured by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC),pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (pNMR) and differential scanuing calorimetry (DSC)