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Determination of Furan Fatty Acids in Food Samples

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

Abstract

Furan fatty acids (F-acids) are valuable bioactive compounds found at low concentrations in food. A method for the quantitative determination of saturated F-acids in food is reported. The sample preparation is based on accelerated solvent extraction, transesterification into methyl esters and silver ion chromatography (20% AgNO3 in silica, 1% deactivated) of the resulting methyl esters. There then follows determination of the enriched F-acid methyl (or ethyl) esters by GC/EI-MS in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The 9-(3-methyl-5-pentylfuran-2-yl)-nonanoic acid ethyl ester (9M5-EE) was used as an internal standard for recovery checks. The limit of detection was 11 pg, and the recovery rate of the silver ion chromatography was 85% (n = 5). Further F-acid standards were used for evaluation of individual SIM-responses. Application of the method to various biological samples gave the following results: champignons (n = 2) contained 1.7 or 2.5 mg/100 g dry weight F-acids, while fish oil capsules (n = 5) contained between 18 and 234 mg/100 g oil F-acids distributed over up to seven F-acids. The concentrations and patterns were different to fresh fish. Accordingly, fish oil supplements seem to be a minor source for F-acids compared to (fresh) fish. Organic butter samples (n = 4) contained about twice the amount of F-acids when compared with conventional butter (n = 5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Hohenheim, 70953, Stuttgart, Germany

    Walter Vetter, Sophia Laure, Christine Wendlinger & Axel Mattes

  2. School of Chemistry, Main College, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK

    Andrew W. T. Smith & David W. Knight

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  1. Walter Vetter
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  2. Sophia Laure
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  3. Christine Wendlinger
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  4. Axel Mattes
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  5. Andrew W. T. Smith
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  6. David W. Knight
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Correspondence to Walter Vetter.

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Vetter, W., Laure, S., Wendlinger, C. et al. Determination of Furan Fatty Acids in Food Samples. J Am Oil Chem Soc 89, 1501–1508 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-012-2038-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-012-2038-6

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