RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 37 (4) December 2025, p. 719-728

INSIGHT INTO FATTY ACID-AMINO ACIDS INTERACTIONS IN LIPASE ENZYME CATALYSIS OF TRANSESTERIFICATION REACTION OF PALM OIL USING DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY B3LYP 6-31G(D,P)

RADIAH ALI1; ALYZA AZZURA AZMI1 and SABIQAH TUAN ANUAR1*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2024.0056
Received: 10 February 2024   Accepted: 6 September 2024   Published Online: 27 November 2024
ABSTRACT

This study elucidates the effects of various triacylglycerol (TAG) fatty acid constituents consist of palmitoyl, oleoyl and linoleoyl on the enzymatic transesterification of palm olein and discusses the synergistic effect between substrates and lipase (amino acid). Quantum mechanical calculations of Gaussian09 and density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP 6-31G(d,p) level were employed to evaluate their physical parameters including total electronic energy, high-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), energy band gap, hardness, softness, global electronegativity, dipole moment and interaction energy. The results showed that the interaction energy is the main contributor to the performance of the triacylglycerol constituents. Significantly higher interaction energy values of the complexes with amino acids suggest a prolonged half-life of the TAG-amino acid systems. The enhanced compatibility between 1,2,3-tripalmitoyl-glycerol (PPP) and amino acids is attributed to the similarity of the dipole moment between these species, resulting in the formation of more stable complexes compared to other combinations. The higher the value of the dipole moment, the more electrically polar the molecule and the more it can polarise the target molecule. These bonds are important to the stabilisation of the transition state of the enzymatic reaction and will have a great impact on overall triacylglycerol transformation.

KEYWORDS:


1 Faculty of Science and Marine Environment,
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus,
Terengganu, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: sabiqahanuar@umt.edu.my

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