Micro method for stereospecific analysis of triacyl-sn-glycerols by chiral-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A procedure for micro stereospecific analysis of triacyl-sn-glycerols (TGs) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a chiral column is presented. TGs were partially hydrolyzed with ethyl magnesium bromide, and total products were immediately converted to 3,5-dinitro-phenylurethane derivatives. Each of the 1- and 2-monoacylglycerol (MG) derivatives was isolated by HPLC on a silica column. The 1-MGs were resolved intosn-1 andsn-3 MG fractions by HPLC on a Sumichiral OA-4100 column (Sumitomo Chemical, Osaka, Japan). Fatty acid methyl esters obtained from thesn-1,sn-2 andsn-3 MG fractions were analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography on a capillary column. Analyses of standard TGs showed that, even with 1 mg of sample, accuracy was comparable to that obtained with 100-mg samples. Applying this procedure to the stereospecific analysis of 5 mg of jujube pulp, TGs revealed the positional distribution of the (n-5) series of monounsaturated fatty acids they contained. Honored Student Award Address presented at the 83rd AOCS Annual Meeting held in Toronto, Canada, May 10–14, 1992.