Abstract
Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) preparation is an important step to determine fatty acid composition of oils and fats. Transesterification with boron trifluoride (BF3) in methanol has been widely used; however, the transesterification of triacylglycerols usually involves a long heating time, whereas much shorter reaction times may be sufficient when microwave irradiation is used. The purpose of this paper was to optimize FAME preparation with BF3 by microwave irradiation. A three-factor central composite routable (CCRD) design was used to study the effect of the heating time (A), irradiation power (B), and volume of sodium hydroxide (C) on FAME concentration. A second-order polynomial model was employed to generate a surface response. Optimum conditions obtained for FAME preparation were time of 60 s, irradiation power of 220 W, and base volume of 1.5 mL. Compared to conventional methods, the advantages of this method are the quick result and the accuracy.
Highlights
In the last decades, many of the functions of lipids in human metabolism have been elucidated, affording a better understanding of their relationships to health and disease
Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) preparation is an important step to determine fatty acid composition of oils and fats
The CFx values for the saturated FAME were quite close to the experimental values
Summary
Many of the functions of lipids in human metabolism have been elucidated, affording a better understanding of their relationships to health and disease. Much emphasis has been placed on the increase in the intake of n – 3 fatty acids and the decrease in the intake of saturated fatty acids [1] and trans fatty acids. This has led to a growing concern about the intake of lipids, and about the fatty acid composition of foods. In the analysis of fatty acids, GC plays a unique role due to its excellent ability to resolve complex mixtures that involve both geometric and positional isomers [2]. Transesterification makes the fatty acid more volatile, a condition that is necessary in many determinations, due to the limit temperature to which the column stationary phase can be subjected to [3]
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