Functional Lipids and Proteins—Chemistry, Nutrition and Health Promotion

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 February 2026 | Viewed by 178

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hubei Key Laboratory of Lipid Chemistry and Nutrition, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430062, China
Interests: lipid enzymatic preparation; bio-refining of lipids; lipid structure–activity relationship; enzymatic synthesis of structured lipids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hubei Key Laboratory of Lipid Chemistry and Nutrition, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430062, China
Interests: bioreactor design and application; oil degumming and deacidification; proteolysis; bioactive peptides

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lipids and proteins are essential biomolecules supporting cellular architecture, enabling vital metabolic processes, driving physiological responses, and underpinning virtually all biological phenomena. With the development of the Big Food Concept, obtaining lipids and proteins from plants, animals, microorganisms, agricultural by-products, and wastes has become an important research topic. However, research on chemical structures, nutritional characteristics, and safety evaluations of new lipids and proteins remains limited. In addition, the processing and creation of lipid- and protein-based food ingredients or final products are also highly expected. This Special Issue will showcase advanced research on the exploration of new food resources, analysis of physicochemical characteristics, evaluation of nutritional safety, verification of health benefits, and efficient synthesis, molecular modification, and high-value application of lipids/proteins in food area.

Prof. Dr. Mingming Zheng
Dr. Yi Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • new food resources
  • lipid science
  • protein utilization
  • physicochemical properties
  • nutritional safety evaluation
  • value-added utilization
  • functional lipids
  • bioactive peptides

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 14464 KB  
Article
Solvent-Free Catalytic Synthesis of Ethyl Butyrate Using Immobilized Lipase Based on Hydrophobically Functionalized Dendritic Fibrous Nano-Silica
by Mengqi Wang, Yi Zhang, Yunqi Gao, Huanyu Zheng and Mingming Zheng
Foods 2025, 14(24), 4272; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14244272 - 11 Dec 2025
Abstract
Ethyl butyrate is a typical flavor ester with pineapple-banana scents, but the poor yield from natural fruits limits its feasibility in food and fragrance industries. In this study, dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS) was hydrophobically modified with octyl groups (DFNS-C8) to immobilize [...] Read more.
Ethyl butyrate is a typical flavor ester with pineapple-banana scents, but the poor yield from natural fruits limits its feasibility in food and fragrance industries. In this study, dendritic fibrous nano-silica (DFNS) was hydrophobically modified with octyl groups (DFNS-C8) to immobilize Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) for solvent-free esterification of ethyl butyrate. The immobilized lipase CALB@DFNS-C8, with the enzyme loading of 354.6 mg/g and the enzyme activity of 0.064 U/mg protein, achieved 96.0% ethyl butyrate conversion under the optimum reaction conditions where the molar ratio of butyric acid to ethanol was 1:3, with a reaction temperature and time of 40 °C and 4 h. Under the solvent-free catalytic reactions, CALB@DFNS-C8 presented the maximum catalytic efficiency of 35.1 mmol/g/h and retained 89% initial activity after ten reuse cycles. In addition, the immobilized lipase can efficiently catalyze the synthesis of various flavor esters (such as butyl acetate, hexyl acetate, butyl butyrate, etc.) and exhibits excellent thermostability and solvent tolerance. A molecular docking simulation reveals that the hydrophobic cavity around the catalytic triad stabilizes the acyl intermediate and ensures the precise orientation of both acid and alcohol substrates. This work provides new insights into the sustainable production of flavor esters using highly active and recyclable immobilized lipases through rational carrier hydrophobization and structural confinement design. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop