Fast analysis by gas-liquid chromatography. Perspective on the resolution of complex fatty acid compositions

Separation of fatty acids as methyl ester (FAME) derivatives has been carried out using short and highly polar capillary column developed for fast gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) applications. The GLC parameters have been optimized in order to achieve separation of FAME ranging from 4:0 (butyric acid) to 24:1 in less than 5 min. Milk fat that has by far the most complex fatty acid composition among edible fats and oils has been used to optimize the method. The volume of the oven has been reduced in order to allow for a heating rate of 120 degrees C/min and to rapidly cool-down to the initial temperature (50 degrees C) of the GLC program. The GLC conditions developed are not suitable to achieve separation of positional and geometrical isomers of octadecenoic acid but are useful to perform separation of major fatty acids in milk fat. The conditions developed could be used to analyze edible fats and oils or biological samples such as plasma or red blood cell lipids. The results confirmed that short and highly polar fast columns operating under optimal conditions could be used to separate the fatty acids in various matrices.     

Analysis of steroidal lipids by gas and liquid chromatography.

This article describes the most commonly used procedures and recent laboratory methodologies using gas and liquid chromatography developed for separation and quantitation of non-saponifiable steroidal lipids from clinical (human) studies, edible fats and oils or fatty foods.     

Olive oil or lard?: Distinguishing plant oils from animal fats in the archeological record of the eastern Mediterranean using gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry

Distinguishing animal fats from plant oils in archaeological residues is not straightforward. Characteristic plant sterols, such as β-sitosterol, are often missing in archaeological samples and specific biomarkers do not exist for most plant fats. Identification is usually based on a range of characteristics such as fatty acid ratios, all of which indicate that a plant oil may be present, none of which uniquely distinguish plant oils from other fats. Degradation and dissolution during burial alter fatty acid ratios and remove short-chain fatty acids, resulting in degraded plant oils with similar fatty acid profiles to other degraded fats. Compound-specific stable isotope analysis of δ(13)C(18:0) and δ(13)C(16:0), carried out by gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS), has provided a means of distinguishing fish oils, dairy fats, ruminant and non-ruminant adipose fats, but plant oils are rarely included in these analyses. For modern plant oils where C(18:1) is abundant, δ(13)C(18:1) and δ(13)C(16:0) are usually measured. These results cannot be compared with archaeological data or data from other modern reference fats where δ(13)C(18:0) and δ(13)C(16:0) are measured, as C(18:0) and C(18:1) are formed by different processes resulting in different isotopic values. Eight samples of six modern plant oils were saponified, releasing sufficient C(18:0) to measure the isotopic values, which were plotted against δ(13)C(16:0). The isotopic values for these oils, with one exception, formed a tight cluster between ruminant and non-ruminant animal fats. This result complicates the interpretation of mixed fatty residues in geographical areas where both animal fats and plant oils were in use.     

Utilizing biotechnology in producing fats and oils with various nutritional properties

The role of dietary fat in health and wellness continues to evolve. In today's environment, trans fatty acids and obesity are issues that are impacted by dietary fat. In response to new information in these areas, changes in the amount and composition of edible fats and oils have occurred and are occurring. These compositional changes include variation in fatty acid composition and innovation in fat structure. Soybean, canola, and sunflower are examples of oilseeds with varied fatty acid composition, including mid-oleic, high-oleic, and low-linolenic traits. These trait-enhanced oils are aimed to displace partially hydrogenated vegetable oils primarily in frying applications. Examples of oils with innovation in fat structure include enzyme interesterified (EIE) fats and oils and diacylglycerol oil. EIE fats are a commercial edible fat innovation, where a lipase is used to modify the fat structure of a blend of hard fat and liquid oil. EIE fats are aimed to displace partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in baking and spread applications. Diacylglycerol and medium-chain triglyceride (MCT)-based oils are commercial edible oil innovations. Diacylglycerol and MCT-based oils are aimed for individuals looking to store less of these fats as body fat when they are used in place of traditional cooking and salad oils.     

Untargeted fatty acid profiles based on the selected ion monitoring mode

Fatty acids are potential biomarkers of some diseases and also key markers and quality parameters of different dietary fats and related products. Thus, untargeted fatty acid profiles are important in the study of dietary fat quality and fat-related diseases, as well as in other fields such as bioenergy. In addition, accurate identification of unknown components is a technological breakthrough for the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode for untargeted profiles. In this study, we developed untargeted fatty acid profiles based on SIM. We also investigated mass spectral characteristics and equivalent chain lengths (ECL) to eliminate the influence of non-FAMEs for identifying fatty acids in samples. As an application example, fatty acid profiles were used to classify three edible vegetable oils. The results indicated that SIM-based untargeted fatty acid profiles could yield accurate qualitative and quantitative results for more fatty acids and benefit related studies of metabolite profiles.     

Rapid characterization of edible oils by direct matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis using triacylglycerols

Direct matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric (MALDI-TOFMS) analysis of solutions of edible fats/oils yielded spectra useful for their rapid differentiation and classification. Results also reflected the individual fatty acid components and their degree of unsaturation. After dissolution in hexane, MALDI-MS analysis revealed spectra showing characteristic triacylglycerols (TAGs), the main fat/oil components, as sodium adduct ions. The Euclidean distances calculated using the mass and intensity values for 20 TAGs were used to evaluate and compare spectra. With cluster analysis, animal fats grouped together differently than vegetable oils and the individual oils grouped together by type. The ion abundances for the individual TAGs and their presumed compositions were used to approximate the overall fatty acid composition of canola, soybean, corn, olive and peanut oil, as well as lard. Using this approach the calculated fatty acid compositions and degree of unsaturation generally fell within about 4% of literature values. When the degree of saturation was compared with values calculated from the package labeling the differences were about 7%.     

GC-IMS技术结合化学计量学方法在食用植物油分类中的应用

建立了一种快速、无损分析食用植物油中挥发性有机物质的顶空进样/气相色谱-离子迁移谱(GC-IMS)联用方法。以芝麻油、菜籽油、山茶油共56个样品为研究对象,量取2 mL待测油样于标准样品瓶中,并用磁帽密封,直接进行GC-IMS分析检测。结果表明,基于GC-IMS三维谱中对应挥发性有机物质的特征峰强度可以有效表征不同类植物油的样品信息,选取对应三维谱中40个特征峰的强度作为变量,进行主成分(PCA)信息降维后,采用k最近邻(kNN)算法建立植物油种类的判别模型,训练集的识别率达到100%,预测集中仅有1个山茶油样品被误判成芝麻油样品,预测集的识别率达到94.44%。GC-IMS联用分析技术简单、快速、无损,可用于食用植物油等其他食品、农产品种类的快速分类识别。     

Triglyceride nanocrystal aggregation into polycrystalline colloidal networks: Ultra-small angle X-ray scattering,models and computer simulation

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are the majority molecules present in edible fats and oils. Many of the functional characteristics of fat products depend on the colloidal fat crystal network present. Identifying the hierarchies of these colloidal networks and how they spontaneously self-assemble is important to understand their functionality and the oil binding capacity, and new insights into the nano- to meso-scale structure in these colloidal fat networks have been reported in recent years. Ultra small angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) is a technique new to the study of edible oil structures and, when combined with modelling and computer simulation, has enabled significant advances to be made in understanding the nano- to micro-scale crystalline structures of edible oils. In the four years since crystalline nanoplatelets (CNPs) were characterized, models have been made of these highly anisotropic nanoscale structures in which they were treated as the primary unit. In those models, CNPs were represented as close-packed rigid layers of spheres, so chosen because the van der Waals sphere–sphere interaction is known. The intent of the models was to predict the hierarchy of colloidal fat networks that would self-assemble from the components in edible oils. Initially, CNP aggregation was modelled under the assumption that all CNPs are present before aggregation begins and that their solubility in liquid oil is very low. The models successfully predicted the fractal dimensions subsequently measured using USAXS. This brief review reports on some of the latest models and simulations together with the results of USAXS experiments carried out on binary lipid systems, such as SSS in OOO, as well as certain complex systems that contain many different TAG molecules. The excellent agreement between the two approaches has established that USAXS is a powerful tool in the elucidation of the nano- to meso-length scales in fats and oils.     

Prediction of the acid value,peroxide value and the percentage of some fatty acids in edible oils during long heating time by chemometrics analysis of FTIR-ATR spectra

Edible oils are used in the preparation of foods as a part of their recipe or for frying. So to ensure of food safety, checking the quality of the oils before and after usage is an important subject in food control laboratories. In this study, edible oils from four different sources (canola, corn, sunflower and frying) were heated for 36 h at 170 °C and sampling was done every 6 h. The free fatty acid, peroxide value and the content of some fatty acids (C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, C18:3) of the oil samples were determined by standard methods. Then, the ATR-FTIR spectra of the samples were collected. The partial least squares (PLS) regression combined with genetic algorithm was performed on the spectroscopic data to obtain the appropriate predictive models for the simultaneous estimation of acid value, peroxide value and the percentage of five kinds of fatty acids. The effect of some preprocessing methods on these models was also investigated. Preprocessing of data by orthogonal signal correction (OSC) resulted in the best predictive models for all oil properties. The correlation coefficients of calibration set (>0.99) and validation set (>0.86 and in most case >0.94) of the OSC–PLS model suggested suitable predictive modeling for all studied parameters in the oil samples. This method could be suggested as a rapid, economical and environmental friendly technique for simultaneous determination of seven noted parameters in the edible oils.     

Comprehensive Review on Application of FTIR Spectroscopy Coupled with Chemometrics for Authentication Analysis of Fats and Oils in the Food Products

Currently, the authentication analysis of edible fats and oils is an emerging issue not only by producers but also by food industries, regulators, and consumers. The adulteration of high quality and expensive edible fats and oils as well as food products containing fats and oils with lower ones are typically motivated by economic reasons. Some analytical methods have been used for authentication analysis of food products, but some of them are complex in sampling preparation and involving sophisticated instruments. Therefore, simple and reliable methods are proposed and developed for these authentication purposes. This review highlighted the comprehensive reports on the application of infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for authentication of fats and oils. New findings of this review included (1) FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics, which has been used to authenticate fats and oils; (2) due to as fingerprint analytical tools, FTIR spectra have emerged as the most reported analytical techniques applied for authentication analysis of fats and oils; (3) the use of chemometrics as analytical data treatment is a must to extract the information from FTIR spectra to be understandable data. Next, the combination of FTIR spectroscopy with chemometrics must be proposed, developed, and standardized for authentication and assuring the quality of fats and oils.     

A Versatile GC Method for the Analysis of Alkylglycerols and Other Neutral Lipid Classes

The present study focuses on the GC analysis of alkylglycerols and other neutral lipid classes. For that matter, a simple and rapid method based on the direct on-column injection has been developed for the simultaneous analysis of numerous fatty samples from different sources. Chemical transformation or treatment of the sample before the injection of samples is not required. In addition, quantification of different lipid classes was also evaluated with satisfactory results. Excellent results regarding reproducibility and resolution were observed. This method can be utilized for multiple purposes such as analyses of edible oils, shark liver oils, deodorizer distillates, time course analyses of lipase-catalyzed reactions, etc.     

Development of a DSC method for determination of certain technological parameters of margarine and mixed-fat spread

Nutritional-physiological research of near past decades had established the real nutritional value of fats and oils. In the former theory the nutritional value of fats and oils is influenced mainly by the rate of saturated/unsaturated fats. It was ruled out, and positive, inert or risk physiological effect of every single fatty acid had been established. The health-care effect of omega-3 fatty acid mainly by the favourable (<3:1) rate of omega-6/omega-3 was established, as inert was concerned the saturated C₁₆ fatty acid and the maximal amount of trans-fatty acids carrying health risk in fats was legally regulated in some countries. These nutritional-physiological requirements were mainly fulfilled by margarine producers and the elementary fats were selected in such a way that they should meet these requirements. Our method helps to the producers to quickly determine the amount of the liquid and solid fat at certain temperature and/or to adjust the technological temperature parameters. The main steps of our method are: a./ determination of cooling rate (K min^–1) of the crystallizer device; b./ determination of the rate of liquid/solid fat at 10°C temperature. This value is used for the determination of the rate of fats and oils as a function of technology and required consistency firmness (spread ability); c./ determination of the temperature from the cooling curve where the crystallization of most part of the fat has finished. This value is used for the determination of outlet temperature parameter of product coming out from the crystallizer device for margarines or mixed-fat spreads with water-in-oil system.     

GC-MS法鉴别食用油和餐饮业中废弃油脂的研究

用气相色谱 质谱联用(GC MS)方法对7种餐饮业中废弃油脂(简称废油脂)和5种合格成品食用油(简称食用油)中所有脂肪酸进行分析。研究发现,废油脂中部分不饱和脂肪酸受到氧化,使脂肪酸相对不饱和度(U R)值明显小于同种类食用油中的脂肪酸相对不饱和度(U R)值,其脂肪酸的质量分数分布与同种类的食用油中脂肪酸的质量分数分布有很大的区别,以及绝大部分废油脂中存在较大量矿物油。研究表明,脂肪酸相对不饱和度(U R)值和脂肪酸的质量分数分布可以鉴别废油脂。     

Injector-internal thermal desorption from edible oils performed by programmed temperature vaporizing (PTV) injection

Injector-internal thermal desorption is a promising technique for the analysis of a wide range of food components (e.g., flavors) or food contaminants (e.g., solvent residues, pesticides, or migrants from packaging materials) in edible oils and fats or fatty food extracts. Separation from the fatty matrix occurs during injection. Using programmed temperature vaporizing (PTV) injection, the oily sample or sample extract was deposited on a small pack of glass wool from which the components of interest were evaporated and transferred into the column in splitless mode, leaving behind the bulk of the matrix. Towards the end of the analysis, the oil was removed by heating out the injector and backflushing the precolumn. The optimization dealt with the gas supply configuration enabling backflush, the injector temperature program (sample deposition, desorption, and heating out), separation of the sample liquid from the syringe needle and positioning it on a support, deactivation of the support surface, holding the plug of fused silica wool by a steel wire, and the analytical sequence maintaining adsorptivity at the desorption site low. It was performed for a mixture of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) plasticizers in oil or fatty food. Using MS in SIM, the detection limit was below 0.1 mg/kg for plasticizers forming single peaks and 1 mg/kg for mixtures like diisodecyl phthalate. For plasticizers, RSDs of the concentrations were below 10%; for the slip agents, oleamide and erucamide, it was 12%. The method of incorporating PTV injection was used for about one year for determining the migration from the gaskets of lids for glass jars into oily foods.     

Thermogravimetric investigations on the thermal degradation of bixin,derived from the seeds of annatto (<Emphasis Type=”Italic”>Bixa orellana L.</Emphasis>)

Conventional methods have been proposed to determine thermal properties of edible vegetable oils. The evaluation of the applicability of DSC and microwave oven (MO) methods to determine the specific heat capacities of the edible vegetable oils was performed. It was observed that the specific heat capacities of each edible oil increased as a function of the saturation of the fatty acids.     

Influence of plant additives on properties of polymers

The chemical composition of the fatty mass representing a waste from the oils and fats industry has been studied. It has been shown that of the fatty acids the 18:2 species possesses a pronounced stabilizing action on polymers, and of polyolefins the least oxidized part of the gossypol pigments, while the fatty mass is a more effective stabilizer than its individual components.     

Matrix Influence in the Determination of Lead in Edible Oils and Fats

In the AOAC Official Method of Analysis (994.06) for lead in edible oils and fats, the oil matrix influence to the lead absorbance signal is ignored. A series of experiment was conducted to look into the matrix effect on the absorbance signal of lead in different types of oils and fats.     

Ultrasound velocity and density studies in some refined and unrefined edible oils

Density and ultrasonic velocity at a frequency of 3?MHz and in the temperature range 298–333?K are measured in some of the refined and unrefined edible oils, namely coconut oil, castor oil, sunflower oil, kardi (safflower oil) and groundnut oil, which are predominantly used in south India. Velocity has been observed to be decreasing with temperature nonlinearly in some oils in the temperature range studied. This is in agreement with others' observations made in different oils and fats. Velocity change with temperature is attributed to change in intermolecular distance with temperature and the nature of variation depends on the internal molecular dynamics. Density of all the oils has been found to be decreasing with temperature. Various physical parameters such as specific volume, molar sound velocity, adiabatic compressibility, molar compressibility and intermolecular free length have been estimated using measured data on velocity and density.     

Two methods for determining erucic acid in edible fats and oils: results from a collaborative study on a rapid, open-tubular (capillary) GLC method and comparison with an isolation TLC procedure

The results of an international collaborative study for the determination of 5% erucic acid in four samples of edible fats and oils with differing levels of 22:1 isomers other than erucic acid, based on the use of wall-coated (SILAR-5CP) open-tubular gas-liquid chromatography, are examined. The same samples had been analyzed in a separate collaborative study by an alternative and more complex method based on argentation thin-layer chromatography. Both methods rejected about the same proportion of participating laboratories and a few individual results from otherwise acceptable laboratories. The means and repeatabilities of the two methods were similar, but the gas-liquid chromatographic method showed better reproducibility.     

A computer program for the automatic identification of edible oils by gas—liquid chromatography

A computer program is given for the identification of edible oils from their fatty acid ratios. The program was used with the Hewlett-Packard 3354 Laboratory Automation System in autocall mode to identify a number of vegetable oils from the fatty acid ratios determined by gas chromatography of the trans-esterified oil samples.