Molecular prediction of the triglycerides of sheep milk fat by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

115 individual peaks were obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography of the sheep milk fat. Triglyceride components of the chromatographic peaks were predicted by means of mathematical equations relationing the log k' of the chromatographic peaks to the molecular variables, equivalent carbon number (ECN) of the possible triglycerides, and chain length (CL) and number of double bounds (DB) of each of the fatty acids of the triglyceride. The 12 main fatty acids obtained by gas chromatography of the total triglyceride fraction were used to estimate the triglyceride composition of the sheep milk fat. The triglycerides presenting high random percentages were considered the principal molecular species when more than one triglyceride were predicted in a chromatographic peak. The main estimated triglycerides of the sheep milk fat were C4:0-C16:0-C16:0, C6:0-C14:0-C16:0, C4:0-C14:0-C16:00, C4:0-C16:0-C18:1 and C6:0-C14:0-C18:1.