A rapid and quantitative method for total fatty acid analysis of fungi andother biological samples

A quantitative method for the one-step esterification and determination of absolute amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids in biotechnologically produ ced fungal mycelia is proposed. A system of two internal standards was used to quantify the total fatty acid content of the samples by gas chromatogra phy. The degree of methylation of the analyzed fatty acids was calculated u sing the internal standards, and subsequently this quotient was used to val idate the derivatization and extraction reactions. By utilizing this degree of methylation, the corrected amounts of the various fatty acids in the sa mple can be calculated.