An improved method of characterizing fatty acids by equivalent chain length values

Abstract

Abstract A method has been developed for calculating more accurate and reproducible equivalent chain length (ECL) values of 33 straight‐chain fatty acids (FA), with various positions and numbers of cis double bonds, chromatographed on DB‐Wax and DB‐1 columns. The dependence of ECL values on the position and the number of double bonds is described, as is a method of utilizing these relationships for the characterization of FA by gas chromatography.