Abstract
High-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography (GC) were used to analyze 16 monovarietal olive oils obtained from few matched Mediterranean cultivars grown in experimental fields located in Italy and in the Catamarca region of Argentina. The Catamarca region is characterized by extreme pedoclimatic conditions and by a wild spontaneous vegetation. The proposed sampling allows to study the effect of different pedoclimatic conditions on olive oil composition. GC gives the fatty acid profile of olive oil samples. 1 H and 13 C NMR techniques provide different information: the 1 H NMR spectrum allows the measurement of minor components of olive oils such as b-sytosterol, hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, formaldehyde, squalene, cycloartenol and linolenic acid; the 1 C NMR spectrum allows to obtain information about glycerol tri-esters of olive oils, i.e., about their acyl composition and positional distribution on glycerol moiety. All the NMR and GC results have been submitted to Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Tree Cluster Analysis (TCA). A careful analysis of the statistical results allows to select the Mediterranean cultivars less affected by the climatic conditions present in the Catamarca region. The selected cultivars produce olive oils which keep their Mediterranean characteristics and which can be proposed as colonizing plants in this wild Argentine region.
Highlights
In recent years interest in extra virgin olive oils has grown; due to its recognized nutritional, sensory and healthy qualities, extra virgin olive oil is considered as a fundamental component of the Mediterranean diet
High-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography (GC) were used to analyze 16 monovarietal olive oils obtained from few matched Mediterranean cultivars grown in experimental fields located in Italy and in the Catamarca region of Argentina
The Catamarca region is characterized by extreme pedoclimatic conditions and by a wild spontaneous vegetation
Summary
In recent years interest in extra virgin olive oils has grown; due to its recognized nutritional, sensory and healthy qualities, extra virgin olive oil is considered as a fundamental component of the Mediterranean diet. The official analytical definition of olive oil purity and quality, based on the European Community Regulation 2568/91 (EC, 1991), involves a panel test analysis and many different cumbersome analytical procedures. It has been shown that high-resolution 13C NMR spectroscopy is a technique able ton provide valuable information about the acyl composition and the sn (strictly numbered) 1,3 and sn 2 acyl positional distribution of glycerols tri-esters in different vegetable oils (Gunstone, 1990; Ng, 1985; Wollenberg, 1990; Mannina, 1999a; Mannina, 2000).
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