Fatty acid composition of some European edible vegetable seed lipids. II

Fatty acid composition of hexane-extracted lipids of seeds of 4 edible vegetables was studied comprehensively, covering 2 Brassicaceae; (i) Brassica rapa var. esculenta and (ii) Sinapis alba, and 2 Chenopodiaceae; (iii) Spinacea oleracea and (iv) Beta vulgaris. Neutral lipid contents of (i)-(iv) were 40.0, 6.6, 4.0 and 5.6% resp. Fatty acid methyl esters were prepared after removal of unsaponifiable matter and analysed by capillary GLC. Lipids of (i) and (ii) contained erucic acid at 46.1 and 15.5% resp. Contents of individual acids were, in (i)-(iv) resp: oleic 13.6, 24.7, 23.5 and 31.3%; linoleic 13.5, 20.6, 60.9 and 43.2%; linolenic 8.6, 20.7, 2.0 and 0.5%; palmitic 2.2, 5.1, 10.4 and 15.7%; and eicosenoic (C20:1, n-9) 8.7, 7.2, 0.8 and 0.8%. Some long-chain fatty acids (20:2, 20:3, 22:0, 22:2, 22:3, 24:0 and 24:1) were present in 2-4 spp. at 0.1-1.3%, except for C24:1 in (iv), 4.3%. [FSTA (1985) 17 5N6 is considered part I].