Analysis of butter fat triacylglycerols by supercritical fluid chromatography/electron impact mass spectrometry

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) from butter fat isolated by solvent extraction were analyzed by use of a capillary column supercritical fluid chromatograph (SFC) combined with a flame ionization detector or a double focusing mass spectrometer. The chromatographic separation was achieved by using a dimethyldiphenylpolysiloxane phase (DB-5) to bundle up the TAGs with the same carbon number. The ratio of TAGs with varying degree of unsaturation in each SFC peak was determined by using the selected ion monitoring of the molecular ions with electron impact mode. The discrimination between the fatty acids at the position sn-2 and positions sn-1/3 in a triacylglycerol molecule was demonstrated by monitoring the ions [M - RCO2CH2]+ from reference compounds.