Summary Six methods widely used to produce methyl esters for the gas chromatographic determination of the fatty acid composition of a marine lipid were compared. Four acid‐catalyzed methods (1% H 2 SO 4 : CH 3 OH; 5% HCl: CH 3 OH; 7% and 14% BF 3 : CH 3 OH) and two base‐catalyzed methods [0.5M NaOCH 3 : CH 3 OH; (1:4) tetramethylguanidine: CH 3 OH] were used. The use of BF 3 : CH 3 OH (7% and 14%) gave a lower content of 18:1 n9 than the other methods and produced an artefact (2.7–3.2% of total fatty acid content) eluting between the 20:5 and 24:1 fatty acid methyl esters. No significant differences were obtained between the other four methods. Accordingly the use of BF 3 : CH 3 OH for transmethylation of marine lipids is not recommended. Results obtained in the other four methods showed that all are comparable.
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Medina et al. (1992) studied this question.
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