Matrix fats, oils, lipids

Fats, oils, and lipids are common components of meats, nuts, and dairy products and manufactured goods, such as potato chips, cookies, and chocolate. They are soluble in nonpolar solvents, such as hexane and methylene chloride. The analyte, of course, should also be soluble in the extraction solvent. Typically normal-phase SPE would be used to retain a compound from this extraction solvent. A solid fat may be homogenized in a blender with hexane, filtered or centrifuged, then the solvent would be passed through a normal-phase column for retention of the solute. Another approach is the use of matrix solid-phase dispersion, where the solid would be ground into the silica and C-18 directly, then the analyte eluted directly from the ground mixture with either hexane or methylene chloride. The hexane or methylene chloride extract could then be applied directly to a normal-phase sorbent for separation. Liquid oils may be directly diluted with hexane or methylene chloride and applied to the normal-phase sorbent. Other lipid substances may be handled either as solids or liquids depending on their form. 

Gel permeation ehromatography (GPC)/normal-phase HPLC was used by Brown-Thomas et al. (35) to determine fat-soluble vitamins in standard referenee material (SRM) samples of a fortified eoeonut oil (SRM 1563) and a eod liver oil (SRM 1588). The on-line GPC/normal-phase proeedure eliminated the long and laborious extraetion proeedure of isolating vitamins from the oil matrix. In faet, the GPC step permits the elimination of the lipid materials prior to the HPLC analysis. The HPLC eolumns used for the vitamin determinations were a 10 p.m polystyrene/divinylbenzene gel eolumn and a semipreparative aminoeyano eolumn, with hexane, methylene ehloride and methyl tert-butyl ether being employed as solvent. 

Sol-gel matrices can also provide a chemical surrounding that favors enzymatic reactions. Lipases act on ester bonds and are able to hydrolyze fats and oils into fatty acids and glycerol. These are interphase-active enzymes with lipophilic domains and the catalytic times reaction occurs at the water-lipid interface. Entrapped lipases can be almost 100 times more active when a chemically modified silica matrix is used. The cohydrolysis of Si(OMe)4 and RSi(OMe)3 precursors provides alkyl groups that offer a lipophihc environment that can interact with the active site of Upases and increase their catalytic activity. Such entrapped lipases are now commercially available and offer new possibilities for organic syntheses, food industry, and oil processing. ... 

Besides emulsifying properties, another useful characteristic of solid fats are their malleable melting points profiles. Fat crystals have the structure-forming properties that allow the formation of a matrix for suspension of dmg particles. When used simply as carriers, some lipids can provide a matrix that can keep the bioactive components uniformly distributed and released in a timely manner. The properties of the crystals such as melting time can be manipulated by blending solid fats with different ratios of liquid oils (50). 

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