Preparation and thin-layer chromatography of bromo-derivatives of unsaturated fatty acid esters. A simple and rapid procedure for fatty acid analysis.

Bromo-addition products of unsaturated long-chain fatty acid esters have been prepared and chromatographed on thin layers of unmodified silica gel. The polarity of these derivatives was found to be directly related to the number of double bonds of the parent fatty acid from which they were derived. This has been made the basis of a simple method for assessing the relative proportions of the main fatty acid classes in a mixture.