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Separation of the Fatty Acids in Menhaden Oil as Methyl Esters with a Highly Polar Ionic Liquid Gas Chromatographic Column and Identification by Time of Flight Mass spectrometry

  • Original Article
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Lipids

Abstract

The fatty acids contained in marine oils or products are traditionally analyzed by gas chromatography using capillary columns coated with polyethylene glycol phases. Recent reports indicate that 100 % cyanopropyl siloxane phases should also be used when the analyzed samples contain trans fatty acids. We investigated the separation of the fatty acid methyl esters prepared from menhaden oil using the more polar SLB-IL111 (200 m × 0.25 mm) ionic liquid capillary column and the chromatographic conditions previously optimized for the separation of the complex mixture of fatty acid methyl esters prepared from milk fat. Identifications of fatty acids were achieved by applying Ag+-HPLC fractionation and GC-TOF/MS analysis in CI+ mode with isobutane as the ionization reagent. Calculation of equivalent chain lengths confirmed the assignment of double bond positions. This methodology allowed the identification of 125 fatty acids in menhaden oil, including isoprenoid and furanoid fatty acids, and the novel 7-methyl-6-hexadecenoic and 7-methyl-6-octadecenoic fatty acids. The chromatographic conditions applied in this study showed the potential of separating in a single 90-min analysis, among others, the short chain and trans fatty acids contained in dairy products, and the polyunsaturated fatty acids contained in marine products.

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Abbreviations

AOCS:

American Oil Chemists’ Society

CI:

Chemical ionization

CLA:

Conjugated linoleic acid(s)

CPS:

Cyanopropylsiloxane

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

DMOX:

4,4-dimethyloxazoline

ECL:

Equivalent chain length

EI:

Electron impact ionization

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid

FA:

Fatty acid(s)

FCL:

Fractional chain length

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl ester(s)

FID:

Flame ionization detector

GC:

Gas chromatography

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

MI:

Methylene interrupted

MS:

Mass spectrometry

MUFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acid(s)

NMI:

Non-methylene interrupted

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acid(s)

RT:

Retention time

SFA:

Saturated fatty acid(s)

TOF:

Time of flight

4,8,12-TMTD:

Methyl 4,8,12-trimethyl tridecanoate

7-Me-6-16:1 ME:

Methyl 7-methyl-6-hexaenoate

FD:

Furan ring with two methyl substituents

FM:

Furan ring with one methyl substituent

TIC:

Total ion current

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Regulatory Science, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, HFS-717, US Food and Drug Administration, 5100 Paint Branch Pkwy, College Park, MD, 20740, USA

    Ali Reza Fardin-Kia, Pierluigi Delmonte & Jeanne I. Rader

  2. Guelph Food Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada

    John K. G. Kramer

  3. Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Gerhard Jahreis & Katrin Kuhnt

  4. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Viviana Santercole

Authors
  1. Ali Reza Fardin-Kia
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  2. Pierluigi Delmonte
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  3. John K. G. Kramer
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  4. Gerhard Jahreis
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  5. Katrin Kuhnt
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  6. Viviana Santercole
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  7. Jeanne I. Rader
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Correspondence to Ali Reza Fardin-Kia.

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Fardin-Kia, A.R., Delmonte, P., Kramer, J.K.G. et al. Separation of the Fatty Acids in Menhaden Oil as Methyl Esters with a Highly Polar Ionic Liquid Gas Chromatographic Column and Identification by Time of Flight Mass spectrometry. Lipids 48, 1279–1295 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-013-3830-2

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