PLANT LEAF LIPIDS .1. TOCOPHEROLS

Tocopherols have been characterized by TLC, GC-IR-FT and GC-MS in leaf lipid extracts from fifteen botanical species. The following decreasi ng order of importance was found: alpha-tocopherol greater-than-or-equ al-to delta-tocopherol > gamma-tocopherol. The beta-isomer was absent in every cases. The tocopherol composition have been determined by GC analysis using d,l - alpha-tocopherol acetate as internal standard. Wi thin the present work the tocopherol content was found between 30 and 3.430 mg per 100 g leaf extract Other plants showed analogous amounts. Leaf lipids can reveal to be 20 to 40 times more rich in tocopherols than usual food oils. So, leaf lipids can be considered as an interest ing source of d - alpha-tocopherol.