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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Bioproducts Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341059
Research Project: Domestic Production of Natural Rubber and Industrial Seed Oils

Location: Bioproducts Research

Title: Composition of Acylglycerols in Castor Oil and their Biosynthetic Pathway

Author
item Lin, Jiann

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/2017
Publication Date: 1/16/2018
Citation: Lin, J.T. 2018. Castor and Lesquerella oils: production, composition, and uses. In: Chen, G.Q., editor. Composition of Acylglycerols in Castor Oil and their Biosynthetic Pathway. New York, NY: Nova Science Publisher Inc. p. 1-18.

Interpretive Summary: This is an invited book chapter by Nova Science Publishers. Castor oil has many industrial uses such as the manufacture of biodegradable and renewable plastics, nylon, plasticizers, lubricants, cosmetics and paints. The composition of castor oil reported earlier by the author is reviewed in this chapter. This includes the identification and quantification of many molecular species of diacylglycerols, triacylglycerols and tetraacylglycerols. The ratios of the regioisomers of the molecular species of triacylglycerols and the biosynthetic pathway proposed by the author are also included.

Technical Abstract: Castor oil has many industrial uses, such as the manufacture of aviation lubricant, plastics, paints, coatings, and cosmetics, because of its high content of ricinoleate (hydroxy fatty acid). We have identified many molecular species of acylglycerols using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of the lithium adducts of these acylglycerols in the HPLC fractions of castor oil. These acylglycerols included 12 molecular species of diacylglycerols, 45 molecular species of triacylglycerols (TAG) and 6 molecular species of tetraacylglycerols (triacylglycerol estolides) containing hydroxy fatty acids as well as 12 molecular species of TAG containing three normal fatty acids (non-hydroxylated). Hydroxy fatty acids included mono-, di-, and tri-hydroxy fatty acids and the structures of seven hydroxy fatty acids were proposed. The ratios of the contents of the regioisomers of the molecular species of TAG and tetraacylglycerols were estimated. The contents of 17 molecular species of acylglycerols in castor oil were estimated by HPLC with evaporative light scattering detector. The biosynthetic pathways of these acylglycerols were proposed.