Preparation of phytosteryl ornithine ester hydrochloride and improvement of its bioaccessibility and cholesterol-reducing activity in vitro.

In this work, synthesis of phytosteryl ornithine ester hydrochloride was studied for the first time using an intermediate phytosteryl N,N'-bis[tert-butoloxycarbonyl(BOC)]-ornithine ester. This method also involved esterification of phytosterols with N,N'-bis(BOC)-ornithine and deprotection. The maximum yield was 90% and deprotection of BOC group was more than 99% using the HCl/ethyl acetate method. As a result, thermal stability and water solubility as well as emulsifying activity and stability of phytosterols were improved through coupling with ornithine, which is favorable for their application in water-based food systems. We also observed increased bioaccessibility of phytosteryl ornithine hydrochloride (4.5%) and 65% of phytosteryl ornithine hydrochloride was hydrolyzed in vitro. These results indicated that ornithine phytosteryl ester hydrochloride can reduce dissolution capacity of cholesterol in vitro, representing improved cholesterol-reducing activity, which will further expand the applications of phytosteryl ornithine ester hydrochloride.