Advances in NMR Spectroscopy for Lipid Oxidation Assessment

Authors: Hwang, Hong-Sik

Submitted to: Springer Briefs in Food, Health, and Nutrition
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2017
Publication Date: 3/1/2017
Citation: Hwang, H.-S. 2017. Advances in NMR Spectroscopy for Lipid Oxidation Assessment. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. 59 p.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Although there are many analytical methods developed for the assessment of lipid oxidation, different analytical methods often give different, sometimes even contradictory, results. The reason for this inconsistency is that although there are many different kinds of oxidation products, most methods measure only one kind of oxidation product. For the quality control of food products and for better understanding of the factors affecting lipid oxidation, it is necessary to improve the current methods and to develop new analytical methods that provide more accurate assessment of lipid oxidation. NMR spectroscopy techniques including 1H, 13C, and 31P NMR are very powerful and reliable tools to determine the level of lipid oxidation, to identify oxidation products, and to elucidate oxidation mechanism. 1H NMR spectroscopy has demonstrated its reliability, accuracy, convenience, and advantages over conventional analytical methods in the determination of the level of oxidation of edible oils during frying and storage by monitoring changes in several proton signals of oil including olefinic, bisallylic, and allylic protons. This modern analytical method has been used to identify oxidation products, including primary oxidation products such as hydroperoxides and conjugated dienes and secondary products such as aldehydes, ketones, epoxides, alcohols, dimers and polymers, and their derivatives. By identifying intermediates and final oxidation products, mechanisms for lipid oxidation were elucidated. Another type of NMR method, 13C NMR, has also been used to identify oxidation products. The relatively newer method, 31P NMR spectroscopy, can also provide additional information on the molecular structure of an oxidation product. Backgrounds, principles, advantages over conventional methods, most recent advances, and future prospects of these methods will be discussed.