Cyclic fatty acid monomer: Isolation and purification with solid phase extraction

The application of a combined solid phase extraction (SPE)/clean-up procedure to the isolation of a purified fraction containing all the monomeric cyclic fatty acid methyl esters is described. Extraction of the nonpolar lipid components from nonurea-adducting (NUA) filtrates is performed on a reverse phase octadecyl bonded silica minicolumn. Stepwise elution of the SPE-retained materials through silica gel using several solvents allowed the separation of a pure fraction containing the cyclic monomers that can be used for a more reliable quantitative estimation of these compounds in edible fats and oils.