Oxidation of monoglyceride, diglyceride, and triglyceride monolayers by aqueous potassium permanganate solution

Studies were carried out on the oxidative degradation of monoolein, monolinolein, diolein, dilinolein, triolein and trilinolein monolayers by injecting KMnO₄ solution under the monolayers. The effect of the initial surface pressure on oxidative degradation was also studied by measuring changes in the surface pressure and surface potential with time. The surface shear viscosities of these six lipids were measured in order to predict their molecular interactions at the air/water interface. The rates of oxidation for these lipids were found to be in the following order: dilinolein> monolinolein> monoolein> trilinolein> diolein> triolein. Interestingly, the surface shear viscosities of these six lipids were found to decrease in the same order. In the present study, an attempt has been made to correlate the effect of the initial surface pressure, the number of double bonds and the number of hydroxyl groups with the oxidation of these lipids by potassium permanganate solution.