Direct determination oftrans unsaturation in triglycerides by infrared spectrophotometry

A differential infrared spectrophotometric method is described for the determination oftrans unsaturation in fats. The method utilizes absorption at 965 cm⁻¹, due to the C−H out-of-plane deformation vibrations oftrans unsaturated compounds. The method is rapid, accurate, and directly applicable to the determination oftrans unsaturation in triglycerides. It is applicable to samples which contain low concentrations oftrans acids (down to 2%) and also to samples with fatty acids of mixed chain length.