Composition of the leaf wax of Little Club wheat

Abstract

Leaf wax of Little Club wheat is composed of: hydrocarbons (8–15%); esters (20–26%); alcohols (25–42%); acids (2%); β-diketone (6–10%); hydroxy β-diketones (9–16%); and unidentified material (9–12%). The esters are mainly octacosanol esters of C 14 to C 32 fatty acids but lesser amounts of esters of trans 2-tetracosenoic and trans 2-docosenoic acids also occur. The free alcohols are almost entirely octacosanol. The β-diketone is hentriacontane-14,16-dione and the hydroxy-β-diketones are a 1:1 mixture of 8- and 9-hydroxyhentriacontane-14,16-diones.