Methods of analysis of mixtures of oleic,linoleic and saturated esters and their application to highly purified methyl oleate and methyl linoleate

Summary Iodine numbers by the Hanus and Wijs methods and thiocyanogen numbers using various absorption periods, were determined on methyl oleate and methyl linoleate and on mixtures of these esters. It is concluded that iodine numbers by the Wijs method and three-hour thiocyanogen numbers are more satisfactory for methyl linoleate and for mixtures containing large amounts of this ester. Small amounts of higher saturated acids were determined with a precision of about 0.1 unit-percent by means of the Bertram procedure. A purified specimen of methyl oleate was found to contain about 0.2 percent of saturated ester by this method. Food Research Division Contribution No. 428.