Identification of n‐6 Monounsaturated Fatty Acids in Acer Seed Oils |
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Authors: | Jin‐Yue Sun Xin‐Kun Wang Mark A. Smith |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Agro‐Food Science and Technology/Key Laboratory of Agro‐Products Processing Technology of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China;2. National Research Council of Canada, 110 Gymnasium Place, Saskatoon, SK, Canada |
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Abstract: | Seed oils from Acer species are a potential source of the nutraceutical fatty acids, nervonic acid (cis‐15‐tetracosenoic acid, NA), and γ‐linolenic acid (cis‐6,9,12‐octadecatrienoic acid, GLA). To further characterize the genus, seed fatty acid content and composition were determined for 20 species of Acer. Fatty acid content ranged from 8.2% for Acer macrophyllum to over 36% for A. mono and A. negundo. The presence of very‐long‐chain fatty acids (VLCFA), with chain length of 20‐carbons or greater, and GLA were characteristic features of the seed oils. In all species, erucic acid (cis‐13‐docosenoic acid, EA) was the predominant VLCFA with the highest level of NA being only 8.6% in A. olivianum. Regioselective lipase digestion demonstrated that VLCFA are largely absent from the sn‐2 position of seed triacylglycerol, whereas GLA is primarily located at this position. Five Acer species contained low levels (<2%) of cis‐12‐octadecenoic acid and cis‐14‐eicosenoic acid, uncommon n‐6 fatty acids not previously reported from Acer. |
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Keywords: | Acer Seed oil sn‐2 MAG Very‐long‐chain fatty acids n‐6 monounsaturated fatty acids Gamma‐linolenic acid Nervonic acid |
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