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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #115947
Title: TRIACYLGLYCEROL STRUCTURES OF FOOD FATS HIGH IN SATURATED ACIDS BY HPLC ANDMASS SPECTROMETRY

Author
item Neff, William
item BYRDWELL, WM - FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIV
item List, Gary

Submitted to: Journal of Liquid Chromatography and Related Technologies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/28/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Amounts and types of the components called triglycerides of the fat portion of food formulation products are important. The triglycerides of the fat portion have an important effect on melting range, stability and texture of the finished food product. Also, the triglycerides are important for nutritional and health value. We presented in this work a technique to learn about the amounts and types of these triglycerides. This technique is called high-performance liquid chromatography, which separates the different triglycerides based on the length and unsaturation of the fatty acids they contain. After separation, the amounts and identities of the triglycerides can be determined as they are passed through a detector called a quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a device called an atmospheric chemical ionization source. This is a new method, which determines accurately the triglyceride composition of fats with highly saturated fatty acid oils such as cocoa butter and coconut oil used in foo products. This work will benefit food processor, since a method is described and triglyceride data presented for several commonly used fats, which will speed up development of fat containing products with desired properties such as melting, texture and mouth feel. This work, which will also benefit the consumer, is a development from research, conducted in the food formulation project, which determines relationship of glyceride structure and quality/functionality of modified vegetable oils.

Technical Abstract: Triacylglycerol (TAG) compositions by area percent were obtained by reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC/ APCI-MS) coupled with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry of highly saturated fatty acid fats such as coconut, cocoa butter, palm, randomized palm, palm olein and randomized palmolein oils. Accurate identification and quantitation of these TAG compositions was obtained and proved by comparison of the fatty acid composition calculated from the TAG composition obtained by APCI-MS with the fatty acid composition obtained by gas chromatography of the methyl esters of the transmethylated oils. Also, APCI-MS accuracy was proved by comparison of the experimental TAG composition with the predicted TAG composition for randomized oils. Average absolute errors with respect to TAG quantitation and identification were less than one percent. Our study identified and quantitated these TAG Ggreater than 0.1% (oil, number of TAG): coconut, 99; palm, 27; randomized palm, 28; palm olein, 28; randomized palm olein, 29; and cocoa butter, 19 TAG, respectively. Concentration of UUU, UUS, USS and SSS TAG, which can be determined accurately from RP-HPLC/APCI-MS of the actual TAG species, affected the physical properties of food formulation fats.