Comparison between methods using low-toxicity solvents for the extraction of lipids from herring ( Clupea harengus)

Abstract

Three alkane/alcohol/water-based lipid extraction systems were evaluated to determine which would be the best replacement for the frequently used chloroform/methanol/water system, nowadays known to be very toxic. All the methods were applied to samples of minced herring ( Clupea harengus) differing in quality and composition. In addition to comparisons of total lipid yield, the extracted lipids were compared with respect to content of triglycerides, phospholipids, free fatty acids, α-tocopherol, lipid hydroperoxides and conjugated dienes. The content of phospholipids was found to differ most between the lipids extracted by the four methods. Here, the chloroform/methanol/water system was the most efficient, followed by heptane/ethanol/water/sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and then iso-propanol/hexane. However, by decreasing the level of SDS, the efficiency of the heptane/ethanol/water/SDS system in extracting phospholipids was increased to the same level as that of the chloroform/methanol/water system. This decrease in SDS also resulted in a higher recovery of free fatty acids. The lack of correlation between yields of phospholipids and yields of lipid oxidation products throughout this study was surprising because of the often-described susceptibility of phospholipids to oxidation.