| Abstract: | Application of13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for detection of castor oil (CO) in various edible oils, such as coconut oil,
palm oil, groundnut oil and mustard oil, is described. Characteristic signals observed at δ 132.4, δ 125.6, δ 71.3, δ 36.8
and δ 35.4 ppm, due to C10, C9, C12, C13 and C11 carbons of ricinoleic acid (RA) in CO, were selected for distinguishing it
from edible oils. Quantitative13C NMR spectra of oils were recorded in CDCl3 with a gated decoupling technique. The minimum detection limits for qualitative and quantitative analyses were 2.0 and 3.0%,
respectively. The proposed method is simple, nondestructive and requires no sample pretreatment. Its application to heat-abused
oils has also been demonstrated successfully without any of the interferences observed in most other methods. |
