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Purification process for cod liver oil polyunsaturated fatty acids

  • Published:
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

The polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20∶5n−3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22∶6n−3), which have several pharmaceutical properties, have been purified from cod liver oil. The process consisted of four main steps: (i) saponification of the oil, (ii) use of urea inclusion adducts method to obtain PUFA, (iii) PUFA methylation, and (iv) argentation silica gel column chromatography of the methylated PUFA. Argentation silica gel chromatography yielded highly pure DHA in the process (100% purity, 64% yiild). For EPA, the recovery in the combined process was 29.6%, and the final purity was 90.6%, owing to the simultaneous elution of other polyunsaturated fatty esters. The recovery in the urea inclusion method was strongly enhanced by application of orbital agitation during the crystallization process, in which EPA yield increased from 60–70% without agitation to 90–97% at 800 rpm; stearidonic acid (18∶4n−3) yield ranged from 60–75% without agitation to 87–95% at 800 rpm, and DHA yield varied from 53–73% without agitation to 85–99% at 800 rpm

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Almería, 04120, Almerá, Spain

    J. L. Guil-Guerrero & El-Hassan Belarbi

Authors
  1. J. L. Guil-Guerrero
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  2. El-Hassan Belarbi
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Correspondence to J. L. Guil-Guerrero.

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Guil-Guerrero, J.L., Belarbi, EH. Purification process for cod liver oil polyunsaturated fatty acids. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 78, 477–484 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-001-0289-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-001-0289-9

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