The fatty acids and glycerides of babassu oil

Summary The fatty acids of babassu oil were determined quantitatively by the ester fractionation procedure. The values found in molar percentages were: caproic 0.3, caprylic 7.1, capric 8.3, lauric 47.3, myristic 14.5, palmitic 7.1, stearic 2.0, arachidic 0.1, oleic 12.2, and linoleic acid 1.1. Confirmatory evidence for the presence of linoleic acid was obtained by the isolation of one of its characteristic derivatives, tetrabromostearic acid, m.p. 115°C. A similarity in fatty acid composition was shown between babassu oil and seed fats of other members of the Palmae family. The molar proportion of trisaturated glycerides found in babassu oil (67.3%) was close to the proportion calculated (65.2%) on the assumption that all of the acids in babassu oil were distributed at random. Likewise, the determined fatty acid analysis of the trisaturated glycerides was a first approximation of the analysis calculated on the basis of complete random distribution of the component acids of the whole fat. This work was accomplished as part of a research program supported by a grant from the Buhl Foundation. A sample of babassu oil was furnished by the National Products Company, Harrison, New Jersey, through the courtesy of Mr. Roland Kapp.     

Adsorption analysis of lipids. III. Synthetic mixtures of ethyl stearate,oleate, linoleate,and linolenate

Summary The adsorption analysis of six binary mixtures composed of ethyl stearate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate, and ethyl linolenate has been studied on alumina columns. Distillation methods have been shown by other workers to fractionate the stearate-oleate system but not the oleate-linoleate system. Application of the adsorption analysis technique resulted in fractionation of all six systems including the oleate-linoleate mixture. Measures of the performance of the columns were obtained by dividing the eluate into two portions at the point in the fractionation at which the starting composition was reached. The first component to be eluted from each of the six pairs was obtained in the first fraction with an average purity of between 68 and 83%. The second component was obtained in the second fraction with average purity of 61 to 76%. The first component to be eluted was obtained in higher purity than the second. The efficiency of separation of pairs appeared to depend on the difference in degree of unsaturation of the components. Overall recoveries of esters from the columns ranged from 71.8 to 87.5%. Presented at the 21st fall meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society, Oct. 20–22, 1947, Chicago, Illinois. One of the laboratories of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture.