Quantitative determination of triacylglycerol profile of structured lipid by capillary supercritical fluid chromatography and high-temperature gas chromatography

Two analytical methods have been developed for the qualitative and quantitative analyses of triacylglycerol profile of structured lipid (SL)-containing medium-chain and long-chain fatty acids. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) was used in the first method. The SL was dissolved in chloroform/methanol, 95:5 (vol/vol), and analyzed directly using a super-critical fluid chromatograph equipped with temperature and density programming capabilities. No derivatization was required for sample preparation. An SB-methyl-100 capillary column (10 m, 100 μ i.d., 0.25 μ film thickness) was used for the separation of the triacylglycerol species and a flame-ionization detector (FID) was used for the detection. Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide was used as the mobile phase. In the second method, the SL was hydrogenated to complete saturation prior to analysis using gas chromatography at high temperatures of up to 375°C. A DB-5HT capillary column (30 m × 0.32 mm i.d., 0.1 μ film thickness) was used for the separation. FID was used for the detection and helium gas was used as mobile phase. The triacylglycerol species were separated and identified based on their equivalent carbon number (ECN), the total carbon number of the acyl side chains. A calibration curve was constructed using a triacylglycerol mixture containing known amounts of monoacyltriacylglycerol standard materials ranging from ECN 18 (trihexanoin) to ECN 66 (tridocosanoin). The novel triacylglycerol species, ECN 32–43, created by the interesterification of medium-chain triacylglycerol (MCT) and long-chain triacylglycerol (LCT) were separated and identified based on their retention times. These triacylglycerols, ECN 32–43, were absent in the physical mixture of MCT and LCT. The unique triacylglycerol specieis, ECN 32-43, were therefore selected as the fingerprinting region for the qualitative identification of the SL. Quantitation of the novel triacylglycerol species in the SL was achieved by using the integrated peak area of the new species. Both methods were employed successfully to distinguish the physical mixture from the corresponding interesterified SL. Results generated by the two methods were compared and found to be in good agreement.