Stereospecific analysis of triglycerides: an alternative method.

A new method for the stereospecific analysis of triglycerides is demonstrated on a corn oil which had been analyzed by an earlier method. The triglyceride (1,2,3-triacyl L-glycerol) was partially degraded by means of methyl magnesium bromide. The 1,3-diglyceride was then isolated, and converted into l-2-phosphatidyl phenol, from which phospholipase A cleaved the fatty acids from position 1. The remaining lysophosphatide was analyzed to yield the fatty acids at position 3 of the original triglyceride. The fatty acid composition of position 2 was determined after hydrolysis of the corn oil with pancreatic lipase. This method has the advantage over the one reported previously of yielding direct analyses of the fatty acids in each of the three positions.