Preparation of ethyl magnesium bromide for regiospecific analysis of triacylglycerols.

Yasuhiro Ando, Yuki Tomita, Yusuke Haba

Index: J. Oleo Sci. 57(8) , 459-62, (2008)

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Abstract

This paper presents a procedure for preparation of a Grignard reagent, ethyl magnesium bromide, used for partial deacylation of triacylglycerols (TAG) in their regiospecific analysis. Magnesium turnings were reacted with ethereal solution of bromoethane in a screw-capped test tube to synthesize 2 mL of 1 M ethyl magnesium bromide. Continuously stirred with a vortex mixer, the reaction smoothly proceeded at room temperature. Regiospecific analysis of 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoylglycerol using this product showed that fatty acid compositions of the sn-1(3) and sn-2 positions were contaminated by less than 2 mol% of fatty acids migrated from isomeric positions. The analyses of lard and cod liver/mackerel oil TAG showed typical distribution patterns of 16:0, 22:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 in pig and fish depot TAG. These results confirmed the view that the freshly prepared reagent is usable for regiospecific analysis of TAG.