The separation of glyceride concentrates from natural fats by crystallization from solvents

The limits of experimental accuracy of systematic crystallization of fats and fatty oils from solvents as a method of determining glyceride constitution are critically considered. Examination of artificial fat mixtures of approximately known composition prepared from concentrates of various types of mixed glycerides has given results generally accordant with the proportions of glyceride categories known to be present. More conclusive evidence of the validity of the crystallization procedure is, however, to be gathered, from the facts ( a ) that the trisaturated glyceride content of a fat is the same, whether it is determined chemically (by removal of all unsaturated glycerides by permanganate‐acetone oxidation) or physically (by crystallization); and ( b ) that the amount of a simple triglyceride (e.g. trisaturated, triolein, trilinolein etc.) in a seed fat, determined by the crystallization procedure, is related to the proportion of the acid concerned (e.g. saturated, oleic, linoleic etc.) in the total fatty acids of the fat in a perfectly regular manner, irrespective of the nature of the acid concerned (saturated or unsaturated).