Tocopherols commercial products

The quaHty, ie, level of impurities, of the fats and oils used in the manufacture of soap is important in the production of commercial products. Fats and oils are isolated from various animal and vegetable sources and contain different intrinsic impurities. These impurities may include hydrolysis products of the triglyceride, eg, fatty acid and mono/diglycerides proteinaceous materials and particulate dirt, eg, bone meal and various vitamins, pigments, phosphatides, and sterols, ie, cholesterol and tocopherol as weU as less descript odor and color bodies. These impurities affect the physical properties such as odor and color of the fats and oils and can cause additional degradation of the fats and oils upon storage. For commercial soaps, it is desirable to keep these impurities at the absolute minimum for both storage stabiHty and finished product quaHty considerations. 

Commercial production of vitamin E tocopherols is by way of molecular distillation from vegetable oils. 

A range of commercial products containing extracts of rosemary and sage is available now some of the products are water dispersible, others are oil soluble, and, in order to exploit the synergistic effect, some of them are combined with tocopherols. Rosemary and sage extracts have been used in many food products. 

Sterols are synthesized in both plants and animals. Sterols and their derivatives, such as hormones and vitamin D2, perform various important functions in living organisms depending on their structure. Consequently, sterol products can be derived from several sources. Plant sterols, or phytosterols, are obtained from the unsaponifiable fraction of vegetable oils and fats. The amount of sterol, as well as its composition including fraction of unsaponifiable portion of the respective oil and fats, depends on the raw materials and is characteristic of the particular base material (Table 1). Soya oil represents a widely available source for commercial production of phytosterols. The unsaponifiable portion is separated into a sterol fraction and a tocopherol fraction. A small amount of tocopherol is usually left in the sterol fraction (approximately 4%), which acts as a natural antioxidant in the final product [2]. Plant sterols are also obtained from the black-liquor soap skimming in commercial pulping of wood. The neutral fraction of this so-called tall oil is relatively rich in sterols (approximately 32% of the neutral fraction [3]), and the sterol... 

Although apparendy not commercially important, fermentation (qv) processes have been reported for the production of tocopherols. yispergillus niger (30), iMctohacter (31), Eugknagracilis Z. (32,33), and Mjcohacterium (34) have been shown to produce (RRR)-a-tocopherol. In the case of Eug/ena, titers of 140—180 mg/L have been reported. 

HPLC has been applied to lipid analysis mainly in consideration of the necessity to avoid high temperatures, so at the very beginning, its applications dealt with thermally unstable molecules (e.g., tocopherols, phenolics, oxidation products) and often it was used as an ancillary technique, as a preparative step prior to MS analysis. The limits were in the high volume of the HPLC band that strongly limited the possibility to transfer it to a GC or to a MS. Only in the last 20 years or somewhat less, this kind of hyphenation has become commercially available. 

The bioavailability of silibinin from the extract is low and seems to depend on several factors such as (i) the content of accompanying substances with a solubilizing character such as other flavonoids, phenol derivatives, aminoacids, proteins, tocopherol, fat, cholesterol, and others found in the extract and (ii) the concentration of the extract itself (132,133). The systemic bioavailability can be enhanced by adding solubilizing substances to the extract (11,134). The bioavailability of silibinin can also be enhanced by the complexation with phosphatidylcholine or p-cyclodextrin, and possibly by the choice of the capsule material (135-137). The variations in content, dissolution, and (oral) bioavailability of silibinin between different commercially available silymarin products—despite the same declaration of content—are significant (138). 

The proximate composition of almond includes 50.6% lipid, 21.3% protein, 19.7% carbohydrate, 5.3% water, and 3.1% ash (w/w) (1). The most common method for producing almond oil is hexane extraction that affords high oil yields, however, cold pressing is another commercially used procedure for almond oil production (8). Shi et al. (8) assessed the fatty acid composition of almond oil oleic acid was major fatty acid present (68%), followed by hnoleic acid (25%), palmitic acid (4.7%), and small amounts (<2.3%) of palmitoleic, stearic, and ara-chidic acids (Table 1). Almond oil is also a rich source of a-tocopherol (around 390 mg/kg) and contains trace amounts of other tocopherol isomers as well as phyl-loquinone (70pg/kg) (1). Almond oil contains 2.6g/kg phytosterols, mainly p-sitosterol, with trace amounts of stigmasterol and campesterol (1). 

Pecan tree (Carya illinoinensis) is native to the United States but has also been naturalized for commercial pecan production throughout the world, including Australia, South Africa, and several middle eastern and South America countries (33). Fat is the predominant constituent in all pecan varieties, ranging from 65% to 75% (w/w) (1, 33, 34). Other constituents include 13.9% carbohydrate, 9.1% protein, 3.5% water, and 1.5% ash (w/w) (1). The predominant fatty acids present in pecan oil are oleic (55%), linoleic (33%), linolenic (2%), palmitic (7%), and stearic (2%) acids (Table 4) (34). The most predominant tocol in pecan oil was y-tocopherol (176mg/kg), followed by ot-tocopherol (lOmg/kg), and then 5- and p-tocopherols (6.2mg/kg) (1). Pecan oil also contains 0.73 g/kg phytosterols that exist primarily as (3-sitosterol (around 90%) (1). 

Standard-grade, commercial lecithin from the soybean is a complex mixture. It comprises phospholipids, triglycerides, and minor amounts of other constituents (i.e., phytoglycolipids, phytosterols, tocopherols, and fatty acids). The composition and molecular arrangement of this heterogeneous mixture of compounds defines a product that is low in apparent polarity and has a strong tendency to promote water-in-oil (w/o)-type emulsions (31). 

The commercial membrane separation processes are offered in the areas of nitrogen production and waste treatment applications (1). Developing membrane applications in oil milling and edible oil processing are (1) solvent recovery, (2) degumming, (3) free fatty acid removal, (4) catalyst recovery, (5) recovery of wash water from second centrifuge, (6) coohng tower water recovery, (7) protein purification, and (8) tocopherol separation. 

Phytosterols are found in most common vegetable oils. For example, soybean oil, one of the most commonly consumed oils, is reported to contain approximately 0.36% sterols and 0.124% tocopherols (15). The effect of phytosterols on the reduction of serum cholesterol has been attributed to the possible inhibition of intestinal reabsorption of circulating cholesterol. The saturated version of sterols, stanols, is reported to be more readily metbolized, and this has led to the development of nutritional supplements and it is used commercially in food products such as margarines. The main stanol reported for this application is sitostanol, a saturated derivative of sitosterol. Sterol and cholesterol are used by the human body to synthesize important hormones such testosterone and progesterone, which are used also in many pharmaceutical applications. 

Various mixtures of tocopherols, and mixtures of tocopherols with other excipients, are commercially available and individual manufacturers should be consulted for specific information on their products. The EINECS number for a-tocopherol is 215-798-8. The EINECs number for d-a.-tocopherol is 200-412-2 and the EINECS number for dl-a-tocopherol is 233-466-0. 

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