A reliable and reproducible method for the lipase assay in an AOT/isooctane reversed micellar system: Modification of the copper-soap colorimetric method

The copper-soap method, which is based on the absorbance of a fatty acid-copper complex at 715 nm, is a widely used colorimetric assay to determine the lipase activity in reversed micellar system. However, the absorbance of the bis(2-ethylhexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT)-copper complex prevents the use of an AOT/isooctane reversed micellar system. An extraction step was added to the original procedure to remove AOT and eliminate interference from the AOT-copper complex. Among the solvents tested, acetonitrile was determined to be the most suitable because it allows for the generation of a reproducible calibration curve with oleic acid that is independent of the AOT concentrations. Based on the validation data, the modified method, which does not experience interference from the AOT-copper complex, could be a useful method with enhanced accuracy and reproducibility for the lipase assay.