| Abstract: | The composition and structure of the triacylglycerols (TAGs) of the seeds of ripe fruit of the sea buckthorn of the Dar Katuni, Maslichnaya, and Shcherbinka-1 varieties have been investigated with the aid of lipase hydrolysis. The amounts of fatty acid (FA) residues in the 2-positions of the TAGs, the concentrations of the FAs in the 1,3-positions, the position-type and position-species compositions of the TAGs, and also the values of the enrichment factors (EFs) and inclusion-selectivity factors (SFs) of the unsaturated FAs in the positions of the TAGs were determined. As in the seeds of the majority of other plants, in the sea buckthorn it is mainly the unsaturated FAs that are concentrated in the 2-positions of the TAGs (mol. %): linoleic (L, 47–49.6); linolenic (Le, 32.4–36.9), and oleic (0, 12.8–18.5). The EF and SF values for the O, L, and Le acids in the TAGs of the Dar Katuni variety were, respectively, 1.11, 1.21, and 0.97, and 1.00, 1.10, and 0.88. In contrast to the TAGs of the flesh of sea buckthorn fruit, palmitoleic acid is a minor component of the TAGs of the seeds (0.6–0.9 mol.%). Among the types of TAGs, trisaturated (72.4–76.2) and monosaturated-diunsaturated (22.1–25.3) predominate. According to calculation, the seeds may contain from 57 (Maslichnaya) to 98 (Shcherbinika-1) position-species of TAGs with concentrations >0.01 mol.%. The predominating species among them are LLLe (11.5–14.1), LLeLe (7.8–10.5), LeLLe (5.5–7.2), and LLL (6.0–6.9). The composition and structure of the TAGs of the seeds have also been reliably established with the aid of a mathematical method based on Litchfield's empirical formulas for determining the amounts of FAs in the 2-positions of TAGs.Institute of Plant Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, and Gor'ki Agricultural Institute. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 52–57, January–February, 1987. |
