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Evaluation of the Triglyceride Composition of Pomegranate Seed Oil by RP-HPLC Followed by GC-MS

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

Triglyceride composition and fatty acid profiles of pomegranate seed oil were evaluated by newly developed methods in reverse-phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC), respectively. Different compositions of the mobile phase (acetone and acetonitrile) and flow rates for the HPLC system were used to obtain better separation for accurate quantitative analysis. Triglycerides with conjugated fatty acids (CLnAs) were eluted in order of the polarity of their geometrical isomers (c, t, c < t, t, c < t, t, t). The dominant triglyceride was found to be PuPuPu (32.99 %) in pomegranate seed oil, followed by PuPuCa and PuCaCa containing punicic acid and catalpic acid with total triglyceridelevels of 27.72 and 10.11 %, respectively. For fatty acid composition analysis, triglyceride fractions were derivatized into their respective methylesters which were injected into gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) to quantify the conjugated fatty acids of each fraction of triglycerides. Punicic acid was found to be dominant (76.57 %) followed by catalpic acid (6.47 %) and β-eleotearic acid (1.45 %). Pomegranate seed contained greater amounts of conjugated linolenic acids. These results showed that the present study provides more information about the composition of the triglyceride and fatty acid profiles of pomegranate seed oil compared to the reported studies. Therefore, the developed methods in this study can be used for the identification of the triglyceride and fatty acid composition for pomegranate seed oils and some such specials edible oils including CLnA isomers.

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Abbreviations

AC:

Acetone

ACN:

Acetonitrile

AOCS:

American Oil Chemists’ Society

c:

cis

Ca:

Catalpic acid

CLnA:

Conjugated linolenic acid

CLnAMe:

Conjugated linolenic acid methyl esters

CLnAs:

Conjugated linolenic acids

El:

β-Eleostearic acid

GC:

Gas chromatography

GC-FID:

Gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector

GC-MS:

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

H :

Height equivalent to a theoretical plate

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

k′:

Capacity factor

L:

Linoleic acid

Ln:

Linolenic acid

N :

Theoretical plates

ND:

Not detected

O:

Oleic acid

P:

Palmitic acid

Pu:

Punicic acid

Rs:

Resolution

S:

Stearic acid

t:

trans

α :

Selectivity factor

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Acknowledgments

This study, a part of PhD work entitled “Investigation of Refining Properties for Edible Pomegranate Seed Oil,” was supported by the Selcuk University Coordinators of Scientific Research, project nos. SU-BAP 09101062. The authors wish to thank the principal of Selcuk University and Scientific Research Project Coordination and also TUBITAK for providing financial support to S.T.H. Sherazi under the TUBITAK 2221 Fellowship for Visiting Scientists and Scientists on Sabbatical Leave program.

Conflict of interest

The authors would like to certify that the work described has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Furthermore, the authors have had no actual or potential conflicts of interest, including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations, that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work within the 3 years since beginning the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Selcuk University, 42075, Konya, Turkey

    Mustafa Topkafa, Huseyin Kara & Syed Tufail Hussain Sherazi

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Necmettin Erbakan University, 42090, Konya, Turkey

    Huseyin Kara

  3. National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, 76080, Pakistan

    Syed Tufail Hussain Sherazi

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  1. Mustafa Topkafa
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Correspondence to Mustafa Topkafa.

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Topkafa, M., Kara, H. & Sherazi, S.T.H. Evaluation of the Triglyceride Composition of Pomegranate Seed Oil by RP-HPLC Followed by GC-MS. J Am Oil Chem Soc 92, 791–800 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-015-2652-1

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