Enzymatic synthesis of palmitoylethanolamide from ketapang kernel oil

Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) has been synthesized from the palmitic acid Ketapang kernel oil (Terminalia catappa L.) through an enzymatic reaction. Usually, PEA was synthesized from pure fatty acids by chemical catalysts. In this study, the raw material used was ketapang kernel oil (renewable and in-edible oil) and the reaction was carried out with lipozyme as a catalyst. The palmitic acid content of ketapang kernel oil is 25-30%. The enzymatic reaction conditions weretemperature at 40°C for 24 h, substrate ratio of ketapang kernel oil and ethanolamine of 1 : 3, amount of enzyme (Lipozyme)of 0.15 gand hexane as a solvent. The formation of the PEA was confirmed using Thin layer chromatography (TLC), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). FTIR spectra of the PEA shows the characteristic absorption band at 3340-3100, 1642 and 1270-1216cm⁻¹ for stretching vibration of O-H, N-H,C=O (carbonyl) and C-N, respectively. The GC-MS chromatogram shows that the peak of PEA appears at retention time of 11.98 minutes. (paper)