Derivatization, fatty acids from

Eatty acids from commercial fats and oils, such as peanut oil, are extracted with methanolic NaOH and made volatile by derivatizing with a solution of methanol/BE3. Separations are carried out using a capillary 5% phenylmethyl silicone column with MS detection. By searching the associated spectral library students are able to identify the fatty acids present in their sample. Quantitative analysis is by external standards. 

Normally, the method of choice for the analysis of complex mixtures of polyenoic fatty acids such as those derived from fish oils is capillary gas chromatography with prechromato-graphic derivatization and mass spectrometric detection. However, GC is impractical for the purification of the large amounts of polyenoic fatty acids required for biological and clinical studies. Moreover, the temperatures required in GC may cause degradation of oxidized long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are present as minor components of the mixture. 

Colistin (COL) is a multicomponent antibiotic (polymyxins E) that is produced by strains of inverse Bacillus polymyxa. It consists of a mixture of several closely related decapeptides with a general structure composed of a cyclic heptapeptide moiety and a side chain acetylated at the N-terminus by a fatty acid. Up to 13 different components have been identified. The two main components of colistin are polymyxins El and E2 they include the same amino acids but a different fatty acid (216). A selective and sensitive HPLC method was developed for the determination of COL residues in milk and four bovine tissues (muscle, liver, kidney, and fat). The sample pretreatment consists of protein precipitation with trichloracetic acid (TCA), solid-phase purification on Cl 8 SPE cartridges, and precolumn derivatization of colistin with o-phthalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol in borate buffer (pH 10.5). The last step was performed automatically, and the resulting reaction mixture was injected into a switching HPLC system including a precolumn and the reversed-phase analytical column. Fluorescence detection was used. The structural study of El and E2 derivatives was carried out by HPLC coupled with an electrospray MS. Recoveries from the preseparation procedure were higher than 60%. 

Figure 5. GC/FTD analysis of the phospholipid-derived fatty acid methyl esters from derivatization/SFE extraction of Bacillus suhtilis. The front chromatogram shows the second extraction of the same sample (I.S.=internal standard).

The most common analytical technique for the analysis of FFAs and their breakdown products has been chromatography. HPLC has been used for the analysis of FFAs (Christie, 1997 Lues et ah, 1998 Zeppa et ah, 2001). Analysis of short-chain fatty acids (C2-C4) may be relatively simple (Zeppa et ah, 2001). However, the analysis of long-chain fatty acids (>C6) may require derivatization. They are extracted using solvents, converted to bromophenacyl esters, and analyzed by reverse-phase HPLC. GC (with sample preparation and derivatization) has been the method of choice for analysis of fatty acids. An ideal but difficult procedure is to extract FFAs from the aqueous phase and organic phase and combine them (IDF, 1991). The challenge is to overcome the effects of partitioning and extraction of compounds that interfere with the analysis. ISO and IDF have detailed some of the extraction methods for lipids and liposoluble compounds in milk products (ISO, 2001b). Several other methods, which are mainly different in the extraction and derivatization steps, were reviewed by Collins et ah (2004). 

Normally, odd-numbered fatty acids are used as internal standards. While the use of internal standards ensures the correctness of the extraction procedure, it does not guarantee the completeness of extraction for different fatty acids. Due to this reason, a comparison between the methods is essential to truly determine the efficacy of extraction. Chavarri et al. (1997) compared two sample preparation procedures. The first method was the direct method developed by de Jong and Badings (1990), described above. The second method involved saponification with TMAH as described by Martin-Hemandez et al. (1988) and the formation of methyl esters in the injector prior to analysis. The authors found that separation of the FFAs from the triglycerides prior to derivatization improved the analysis. Another comparative study by Ardo and Polychroniadou (1999) reported that the saponification method described above (Martin-Hernandez et al., 1988) was found suitable for both low and high FFA levels in cheese. 

Figure 14.5. Fatty acids patterns of soils under long-term monoculture, (a) Lipid extract of soil under maize, unfertilized, after derivatization with tetramethylammonium hydroxide determined by conventional gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in comparison to direct, in-source pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS) without derivatization (Jandl et al., unpublished), (b) Py-FIMS of lipid extract of soil under rye, farmyard manure (FYM) treatment, compared to solid extraction residue, both directly measured without derivatization. Reprinted from Marschner, B., Brodowski, S., Dreves, A., et al. (2008). How relevant is recalcitrance for the stabilization of organic matter in soils Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 171, 91-110, with permission from Wiley-VCH.

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