Not available outside of the UK & Ireland.

Application

Lipases are used industrially for the resolution of chiral compounds and the transesterification production of biodiesel.

Biochem/physiol Actions

Lipases are used in detergent, food, leather, pharmaceutical and dairy industries. It has several characteristics like substrate specificity, stereospecificity and regioselectivity. It also participates in various bioconversion reactions like, hydrolysis, esterification, acidolysis and aminolysis.

Lipases catalyze the hydrolysis of triacylglycerols into glycerol and free fatty acids.

General description

Lipases belong to the class of hydrolases. Microbes of plant and animal basis mainly produce lipase enzyme. It can also be produced by marine organisms.

Unit Definition

1 U corresponds to the amount of enzyme which liberates 1 µmol butyric acid per minute at pH 8.0 and 40°C (tributyrin, Cat. No. 91010, as substrate)