Molecules (Jun 2012)
<sup>1</sup>H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Analysis of the Triacylglyceride Composition of Cold-Pressed Oil from <em>Camellia japonica</em>
Abstract
<em>Camellia japonica </em>(CJ) has oil-rich seeds, but the study of these oils has received little attention and has mainly focused only on their health properties. In the present work the relative composition of the fatty acid (FA) components of the triglycerides in cold-pressed oil from CJ is studied by <sup>1</sup>H-NMR. The results obtained were: 75.75%, 6.0%, 0.17% and 18.67%, for oleic, linoleic, linolenic and saturated FA respectively. Levels of C<sub>18</sub> unsaturated FA found in CJ oil were similar to those reported for olive oils. We also checked the possibility of using <sup>13</sup>C-NMR spectroscopy; however, the results confirmed the drawback of <sup>13</sup>C over <sup>1</sup>H-NMR for the study of FA components of CJ triglycerides due to its low gyromagnetic ratio and its very low natural abundance.
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