Development of a rapid analytical method for the determination of fatty acids of very high molecular weight present in D003, raw material

Abstract

D003 is a mixture of saturated and linear fatty acids from 24 to 36 carbon atoms obtained from sugarcane wax
(Saccharum-officinarum L.) with hypocholesterolemic and antiplatelet action. The present study consists of
the development of a rapid analytical method for the determination of the content of very high molecular
weight fatty acids present in D-003, a raw material. For this, the fatty acids of this mixture were
derivatized to their methyl esters in a phase consisting of 2% sulfuric acid in methanol (v/v) and
extracted at the same time, in a second phase of n-hexane. The maximum yield of the reaction was reached
at 5 min. From this last phase, aliquots were extracted and analyzed by gas chromatography using a DB-5
wide bore column, using 1-nonadecanoic acid as internal standard. The samples thus obtained and stored at
(25 ± 2) ºC and (70 ± 5)% relative humidity were stable for 20 d. The use of the solvent-flush technique
using a volatile solvent (acetone) made it possible to guarantee the greatest precision in the determination
of the relative response mass factors, which were similar to the theoretical ones. The addition of water
during sample preparation decreased the chromatographic detection of methyl esters. The results were
similar to those obtained with another previously validated method with a similar objective, although the
present method showed advantages in the speed of sample preparation.