Enzymatic and chemical modification of fatty acid methyl esters: enzymatic catalysis of methyl linoleate using soybean lipoxygenase and chemical catalysis of methyl oleate Using Hypobromination

Vegetable oils are a cheap and abundant chemical feedstock which can be readily broken down into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by transesterification using methanol and a base catalyst. These FAMEs contain reactive unsaturated double bonds which can be targeted for modification. In this study, enzymatic and chemical modifications of the unsaturated double bonds of FAMEs are explored with the goal of producing higher value products. Specifically the enzymatic modification of methyl linoleate using soybean lipoxygenase and the chemical modification of methyl oleate using hypobromantion are studied.