Quantitative estimation of sucrose esters of plamitic acid

Thin layer chromatography was adapted for direct quantitative estimation of sucrose esters of palmitic acid. Urea‐phosphoric acid spray was used to detect the sucrose moiety of the various esters. The photometrically metermined density density of each spot on the thin layer plate was found to be proportional to its sucrose content. Ester content was then obtained by multiplying sucrose found by the factor, mol. wt. ester/mol. wt. sucrose. Ester mixtures were prepared by interesterifying sucrose with various proportions of methyl palmitate in dimethylformamide solution. Positional isomers were observed at each level of substitution but could not be adequately separated from each other for quantitative evaluation.