Evaluation of the Computational Methods for Determining Vegetable Oils Composition using 1 H-NMR Spectroscopy

Abstract

The fatty acid composition of vegetable oils is the main factor influencing their properties, concerning both nutrition [1, 2] and exploitation as raw materials for oleochemistry [3-6]. In recent years, interest of scientist to develop new and efficient methods for the determination of the fatty acid profile of different kind of samples (edible oils [7], lipid extracts from different human [8] or animal tissues [9], etc.), has increased, being partially fed by the general trend in the chemical literature concerning the food authenticity assessment. Among the most envisaged physical methods of analysis, gas-chromatography is by far the most popular [10], but 1H-NMR spectroscopy is considered an interesting alternative [11, 12]. The present paper aims to exploit the potential of the 1H-NMR spectroscopy regarding structural and compositional information applied to vegetable oils field, as well as its non-destructive nature and mild analysis conditions which does not require chemical transformations prior to/during analysis, as compared to other methods (chromatographic techniques) [13]. In addition, 1H-NMR method is fast and allows simultaneous identification of several compounds, thus being suitable for the analysis of complex mixtures, such as oils and fats.