Characterisation of fatty acids in biological oil samples using comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography

Comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography can adequately resolve ve ry complex mixtures of analytes such as the fatty acid mixtures which are c ontained in, e.g., fish and vegetable oils. Well-ordered patterns are obtai ned in the two-dimensional separation plane which can be used to tentativel y identify peaks when no standard is available. The technique which can als o be used for quantification, i.e., quantitative ratio analysis, should be especially useful for fingerprinting purposes. Unravelling the composition of complex mixtures such as fish oils appears to be highly rewarding. (C) 2 001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.