Free fatty acid microdetermination by gas-liquid chromatography without transmethylating effects of methylation procedure.

A fast and practicable gas-liquid chromatographic method for the quantitation of non-esterified fatty acids (C14:0-C18:2) from 100 microliter plasma is described. This technique includes extraction, purification using the solvents n-heptane and 0.5 M Na2CO3, and methylation by 0.1 M HCl-methanol. Extraction, quantification and optimal methylation conditions without transmethylation have been investigated. Reproducibility is good and results agree with values found in the literature.