Determination of Isoprenoid Alcohols in Vegetable Oil and Application to Cotton Seed Oil Detection

Abstract

Two minor isoprenoid alcohols in the vegetable oils, geranylgeraniol and dihydrophytol, were determined by HPLC with fluorescence labeling. Geranylgeraniol was found to be widely distributed in these oils in this study as well as phytol but dihydrophytol was present only in cotton seed and kapock oil. Geranylgeraniol and phytol were largely reduced at bleaching step of oil refining. The amount of dihydrophytol in cotton seed oil did not change with bleaching or dewaxing. Dihydrophytol was charachteristic of cotton seed oil and change in its amount was negligible during the oil refining consequently, dihydrophytol could be used for detecting cotton seed oil or cotton seed oil strearin in mixed edible oil.