The preparation of alkyl esters from highly unsaturated triglycerides

The alcoholysis reaction has been applied to the preparation of highly unsaturated alkyl esters from menhaden oil. This reaction proceeded very rapidly, and nearly quantitative yields were obtained with virtually, no loss in double-bond structure. The formation of esters was studied, using straight- and branched-chain alcohols having 1–6 carbon atoms. The reactions were monitored by the technique of thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Maximum conversion of straight-chain esters was found to be a linear function with respect to the number of carbon atoms in the alcohol. Reaction time varied from 2 min for methanol to 60 min for n-hexanol. Branched-chain alcohols reacted more slowly than did the corresponding straight-chain compounds. This reaction was found to be applicable to laboratory and large scale preparations of highly unsaturated alkyl esters. Presented at the AOCS meeting, St. Louis, Mo., 1961.