Pierre Villeneuve

Phenolipids as New Antioxidants: Production, Activity, and Potential Applications

Publisher Summary Phenolics are secondary metabolites widely found in plants; they have several biological roles and they contribute to the defense system of the host. Among them, the phenolic acid family is one of the most important classes and is mainly composed of the cinnamic and benzoic acid derivatives. The interest in these compounds from a nutritional point of view has risen due to their potential properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti carcinogenic. As phenolic acids have a rather low solubility in oils, improvement of hydrophopicity of these compounds by chemical or enzymatic lipophilization has been applied extensively to render these functionalized compounds, so-called phenolipids, active in the oil–water interphase. This chapter focuses on the synthesis of phenolipids derived from phenolic acids, their physicochemical and biological activity, and their potential applications. It also discusses the production technology of phenolipids. One of the most reliable methods to improve antioxidant activity of phenolics is to incorporate properly positioned lipophilic groups to obtain phenolipids. Phenolipids show greater miscibility and incorporation into lipid phases and lipocarriers, offering an advantage for their use in drug delivery systems, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, foods, and cosmetic formulations.

Are emerging deep eutectic solvents (DES) relevant for lipase-catalyzed lipophilizations?

With the recent interest on green chemistry, the scientists have focused on developing new and more efficient solvents to carry out enzymatic-catalyzed reactions with emphasis on reduced costs, risks and toxicity while improving biodegradability. Among the new available solvents, the multimolecular-based liquids (such as ionic liquids and eutectic solvents) have been the subject of most recent studies. Currently, and mainly due to its environmental and economic features, DES are arousing much interest and curiosity. Regarding the biotransformations with lipases, the so-called lipophilization reactions are of major interest. However, they are complex to implement mainly because it is difficult to find a suitable reaction medium. Thus, this review aimed at providing a presentation of these multimolecular- based solvents with general overview of the recent studies dealing with lipase-catalyzed reactions in DES. In addition, emphasis was placed on their strengths and weaknesses, especially with the perspective to be use as efficient and green medium to implement complex and valuable biotransformation such as lipase-catalyzed lipophilizations.