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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Crop Improvement and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #144279
Title: IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF THE MOLECULAR SPECIES OF ACYLGLYCEROLS IN CASTOR OIL BY HPLC USING ELSD

Author
item Lin, Jiann
item TURNER, CHARLOTTA - USDA ARS PWA WRRC
item Liao, Lucy
item McKeon, Thomas

Submitted to: Journal of Liquid Chromatography and Related Technologies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/24/2002
Publication Date: 3/1/2003
Citation: Lin, J.T., Turner, C., Liao, L., Mckeon, T.A. 2003. Identification and quantification of the molecular species of acylglycerols in castor oil by hplc using elsd. Journal of Liquid Chromatography and Related Technologies.26:773-780.

Interpretive Summary: Ricinoleate (a hydroxy fatty acid) has many industrial uses such as the manufacture of aviation lubricant, plastics, paints, coatings and cosmetics. Fatty acids occur as acylglycerols in castor oil, and 90% of its ricinoleate. Castor oil is the only commercial source of ricinoleate. Identification and quantification of the molecular species of acylglycerols in castor oil, the end products of the biosynthesis, will help to understand the control mechanism to produce ricinoleate-containing acylglycerols in castor. It will also help the industrial uses of castor oil. In this paper, we identified and quantified sixteen different acylglycerols in castor oil.

Technical Abstract: Sixteen molecular species of acylglycerols (AG) in castor oil have been identified and quantified using HPLC. ELSD (evaporative light scattering detection) responses of different amounts of the standards of molecular species of AG were nearly linear and similar. In general, the addition of a double bond and a hydroxyl group on the acyl chain and the shortening of the acyl chain decreased the ELSD response of AG slightly. The quantification of molecular species of AG was based on the percentage peak area in the HPLC chromatogram. Triricinolein (RRR) constituted about 71 % of castor oil. The contents of the molecular species of diricinoleoyltriacylglycerol (RR-TAG) were in total about 18% and were in the order of RRO (8.8 %), RRL (6.6 %), RRS (1.1 %), RR-lesqueroleate (0.67 %), RRP (0.47 %) and RRLn (0.15 %). The level of R-TAG was about 0.3%. The level of TAG containing no ricinoleate was less than 0.1%. Diricinoleoylglycerol, a diacylglycerol, was also identified and quantified (0.14%) in castor oil.