A quantitation problem in the open tubular gas chromatography of fatty acid esters from cod liver lipids

Methyl esters of fatty acids of marine origin contain large amounts of highly unsaturated long-chain fatty acids. It is shown that, although esters of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids can be quantitatively analyzed on open tubular columns with a flame ionization detector there are serious losses of the long-chain highly unsaturated fatty acids of marine oils on the column. Through comparison of chain-length composition and iidine value some correction factors are suggested for the highly unsaturated fatty acids which permit reasonably accurate analyses.