Determination of the glyceride structure of fats: Distribution of individual saturated and unsaturated acids

A method has been devised which gives the distribution of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. It involves fractionation of the triglycerides into groups on the basis of total unsaturation by employing chromatography on a silicic acid‐silver nitrate column. The glyceride composition of each fraction is then determined by gas‐liquid chromatography (GLC) of the oxidized glycerides. Using this method, the glyceride composition of lard and cocoa butter was determined to give quantitative amt of 24 and 18 glycerides, respectively. Duplicate analyses agreed to within ŷ0.5%. The fatty acid composition calculated from the glyceride composition agreed to within ŷ1.5% with that of the original fat. This approach provides a new basis for the evaluation of the glyceride tyes in natural fats and for the first time permits the quantitative determination of all the chemically different glycerides of myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids in a fat.