Hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls from the unsaponifiable fraction of anhydrous milk fat

• Main Authors: Vincent P. Flanagan, Aldo Ferretti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 1973-05-01
• Series: Journal of Lipid Research
• Subjects: straight-chain alkanes; alkenes; branched alkanes; phytene; gas–liquid chromatography; mass spectrometry
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022227520368887

Using a combination of gas–liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, the presence of 39 aliphatic hydrocarbons was firmly established in the unsaponifiable fraction of anhydrous milk fat. The hydrocarbons were the C14 to C27 and the C29 to C31 straight-chain paraffins, their monoolefin analogs, and the C25 to C29 branched alkanes. Phytene (3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-n-hexadec-2-ene), identified for the first time in milk fat, was isolated and identified by high-resolution mass spectrometry and infrared analysis. The total hydrocarbon content amounted to 30 ppm of the milk fat. Polychlorinated biphenyls also were detected in trace amounts in the area of the chromatogram between the C18 and the C23 hydrocarbons.