Direct determination of saturated fatty acids in fats, oils, and methyl esters

Summary A direct gravimetric method has been developed for the determination of saturated fatty acids in fats, oils, and methyl esters. The procedure involves methanolysis of the triglycerides to produce methyl esters, followed by oxidation of the unsaturated methyl esters by potassium permanganate. The undesired, acidic oxidation products are removed by alkaline washing and the saturated methyl esters thus isolated are weighed directly. The method is intended for the determination of saturated fatty acids having C16 or longer carbon chains. Small quantities of C14 saturated acids will be included in the determination if present with other higher saturated acids. The method is applicable to both natural and hydrogenated vegetable oils. It is not applicable to oils containing large amounts of C14 and lower saturated acids. Concentrations of saturated acids ranging from 3 to 90% in known glyceride mixtures and from 0.3 to 95% in mixtures of methyl esters were determined with an average difference from the calculated value of 0.8%. Replicate determinations on samples in the 10 to 30% saturates range gave a standard deviation of 0.3 to 0.4%.