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Published on: November 29, 2013
The 6,9,12,15,18-heneicosapentaenoic acid of seal oil
1Laboratoire Biochimie Marine, Station Zoologique, 06230, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France.
Abstract:
A heneicosapentaenoic acid isolated from seal oil has been identified as all-cis-heneicosa-6,9,12,15,18-pentaenoic acid (21∶5ω3). The gas liquid chromatographic retention times of the methyl ester on four different liquid phases were identical to those of synthetic 21∶5ω3, and the mass spectra of the pyrrolidide derivatives were very similar. The ω3 structure, unusual in an odd-chain polyethylenic acid, suggests as the origin α-oxidation of 22∶5ω3, but ω-oxidation of the 21∶6 hydrocarbon common in marine algae is also discussed.

