Estimation of plasma free fatty acids as the trimethylsilyl (TMS) esters

✍ Scribed by A. Kuksis; J.J. Myher; L. Marai; K. Geher

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 534 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(76)90451-6

✦ Synopsis

Quantitative estimates of free fatty acids in total lipid extracts of plasma were obtained by glc on nonpolar columns following trimethylsilylation. The presence of other lipid esters in the reaction mixture had no effect upon the yield of the trimethylsilyl (TMS) esters or upon their resolution on the glc column. Routine quantitations by gas-liquid chromatography (glc) were obtained on 2 ft x 1/8 in. o.d. stainless steel columns packed with 3% OV-I on 100-120 mesh Gas Chrom Q by means of temperature programming in the range 175-350°C with tridecanoin as internal standard. High resolution glc of the TMS esters of fatty acids was done on a 6 ft x 1/8 in. o.d. glass column packed with 1% SE-30 on Gas Chrom Q. In both instances the fatty acids were resolved on the basis of carbon number and by the presence or absence of double bonds. On gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), TMS esters of fatty acids were shown to yield proportionally greater amounts of high mass fragments, including the parent ions, than their methyl or ethyl esters, which has special advantages for the detection and characterization of polyunsaturated fatty acids.