ANALYSIS OF THE SEED LIPIDS OF ALEURITES MONTANA

The seed lipids of the Chinese tung-oil tree Aleurites montana are com posed of 97.2% triglycerides, 2% phospholipids and of 0.8% glycolipids . In the triglycerides 67% of all fatty acids are alpha-eleostearic ac id (configuration C-18:3, Delta(9) cis, Delta(11) trans, Delta(13) tra ns). This acid is bound in the triglycerides in the 1,3 position. Via mercury II-acetate adducts and subsequent chromatography on silica gel a separation of this fatty acid from the seed fatty acids is possible . By this procedure an alpha-eleostearic acid-free tung-oil mixture is obtained, which consists by one half of C-18:2, 25% of C-18:1 and by 25% of the saturated fatty acids C-16:0, C-18:0 and C-14:0.