Composition of crystals of palm olein formed at room temperature

Abstract

Abstract The composition of purified plam olein crystals formed at room temperature (25°C) was identified in this study. Two peaks were obtained when the crystals were analyzed by reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC). The retention times of these peaks suggested that they were not triglycerides. Gas‐liquid chromatography of fatty acid methyl ester analysis of the crystals showed the presence of C16, C18:0, and C18:1 fatty acids. Further analysis by gas‐liquid chromatography of carbon number, after collecting the fractions from RP‐HPLC, concluded that the major peak A was 1,3‐dipalmito‐glycerol. The minor peak B was tentatively identified as 1‐palmito‐3‐stearo‐glycerol and/or 1‐palmito‐3‐oleo‐glycerol due to unavailability of respective standard glycerides. The differential scanning calorimetry thermogram of the crystals show that A and B were indeed the high melting glycerides, with melting and crystallization points of 70.4 and 53.8°C, respectively.