A comprehensive lipidomic analysis of oilseeds using LC-Q-TOF-MS and dispersive micro-solid phase (D-μ-SPE) extraction techniques

Abstract

Growing public health awareness increased the demand for natural products with positive health benefits. Vegetable oils containing omega-3 fatty acids (FA) such as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) has been proposed as a possible source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). In this work, a comprehensive lipidome analysis and comparison of seven oilseeds, including flaxseed, chia, hemp, black cumin, white sesame, black sesame and poppy using dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (D-μ-SPE) coupled with liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS) was performed. The detailed characterisation of oilseed lipid profiles was presented. The identified lipid classes included lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC) and lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), glycerophosphatidylcholines (PC) and glycerophosphatidylethanolamines (PE), diacylglycerols (DG), and triacylglycerols (TG). Multivariate data analysis demonstrated that flax, hemp, and chia seeds were very similar in their lipid content. These seeds contained higher amounts of lipids with less saturated FA substituents, while black cumin, black and white sesame samples shared similar lipid composition with more saturated FA substituents. ALA and linoleic acid (LA) were present in all detected classes of lipids.