A STUDY ON THE LIPIDIC FRACTION EXTRACTED FROM HIGH OLEIC SUNFLOWER SEEDS (HELIANTHUS-ANNUUS L.) DURING THE RIPENING PROCESS

The paper discusses the chemical composition of the lipidic fraction e xtracted from a high oleic sunflower cultivar during ripening. The oil content, the fatty acids, and the composition of unsaponifiable matte r were studied. During the ripening there is an increase in the oleic and a decrease in the palmitic, linoleic, and Linolenic acid contents. At the beginning of ripening, the presence of some unknown acidic com pounds (of which the mass spectra are reported) was observed which wer e not present at harvest. Practically all the components of the unsapo nifiable matter decreased during ripening. In particular, it can be ob served that in the sterols fraction the ratio between Delta(5)-avenast erol and Delta(7)-stigmastenol is reversed during the ripening. During the ripening there is also a marked decrease in the aliphatic alcohol s fraction, whereas a rise in the triterpenic alcohols can be observed .