Production of useful chemicals from sunflower oil by microbial biotransformation with rhizopus stolonifer NRRL 1478.

A number of microorganisms has been screened for growth on sunflower oil as a sole carbon source for production of useful chemicals. Rhizopus stolonifer NRRL 1478 was found to transform the lipid contents of sunflower oil into dodecyl b-D-glucopyranoside and dodecanedioic acid in 15 and 25% yields respectively. The produced compounds were isolated and purified by column chromatography and their chemical identities were established using MS, IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy.