Fatty acid analysis of triacylglycerols: Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters for gas chromatography

Ken'ichi Ichihara; Chihiro Kohsaka; Naohiro Tomari; Tamami Kiyono; Jun Wada; Kiyoo Hirooka; Yoshihiro Yamamoto

doi:10.1016/j.ab.2015.11.009

Fatty acid analysis of triacylglycerols: Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters for gas chromatography

Anal Biochem. 2016 Feb 15:495:6-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2015.11.009. Epub 2015 Nov 30.

Authors

Ken'ichi Ichihara¹, Chihiro Kohsaka², Naohiro Tomari², Tamami Kiyono², Jun Wada², Kiyoo Hirooka², Yoshihiro Yamamoto²

Affiliations

¹ Kyoto Integrated Science & Technology Bio-Analysis Center, Advanced Science, Technology & Management Research Institute of Kyoto (ASTEM), Kyoto 600-8813, Japan. Electronic address: ichihara@kpu.ac.jp.
² Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Technology and Culture, Kyoto 600-8815, Japan.

PMID: 26656926
DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2015.11.009

Abstract

A method to prepare fatty acid methyl esters was developed for fatty acid analysis of triacylglycerols by gas chromatography (GC). Triacylglycerols were mixed with methanolic CH3ONa in hexane containing a mid-polar solvent for 10 s at room temperature. Under these conditions, trioleoylglycerol was converted to methyl oleate with an average yield of 99.3%. This procedure gave reliable and reproducible data on fatty acid compositions determined by GC.

Keywords: Fatty acid analysis; Fatty acid methyl ester; Gas chromatography; Triacylglycerol.

MeSH terms

Chromatography, Gas*
Esters / chemistry
Fatty Acids / analysis*
Hexanes / chemistry
Methanol / chemistry
Oleic Acids / analysis
Oleic Acids / metabolism
Temperature
Triglycerides / chemistry*

Substances

Esters
Fatty Acids
Hexanes
Oleic Acids
Triglycerides
methyl oleate
Methanol