A Specific Thin Layer Chromatography Method for the Identification and Separation of Medium Chain Acylglycerols

Medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), have gained nutritional relevance in the past few years. They are continuously used in obtaining structured lipids like medium chain acylglycerols (MCAs) for various purposes. However, because of their chemical structure pertaining carbon chain length and the presence of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, sensitive detection techniques are required for their correct identification and separation. In the present work, a specific thin layer chromatography (TLC) method for MCAs was developed. The proposed method consisted of the use of a mixture of hexane: acetone (70:30 v/v) as mobile phase, since it proved effectiveness for the separation of compounds of interest (MCAs) as well as having the necessary sensitivity to separate different species of monoacylglycerols (MAGs), diacylglycerols (DAGs) and triacylglycerols (TAGs) of MCFAs. For observation of the compounds, a single oxidizing agent was not sufficient, thus a combination of visualization reagents was used (first a 10 % solution of sulphuric acid in methanol followed by a 10 % solution of phosphomolybdic acid in methanol) achieving the correct visualization of the desired compounds.