Abstract
Polymers of altered linoleic acid were fractionated by means of gel filtration on Sephadex LH-20 column. The effects of the fractionated polymers of linoleic acid on growth of Escherichia coli and fatty acid assimilating yeast were studied. The gel filtration gave four well-isolated fractions, fraction I, II, III and IV, corresponding to monomer, dimer, trimer and tetramer and above of linoleic acid, respectively. The conditions of the separation were discussed. The dimer and trimer at the concentration of 2mg/ml showed no inhibitory effect on growth of E. coli during the initial growth and in the early log phase. The polymers were also utilized as carbon source by a fatty acid assimilating yeast, although the efficiencies were lower than that of pure linoleic acid. The monomer which includes linoleic acid, its stereo-isomers and hydroperoxides, showed inhibitory effects on the both micro-organisms tested, which was presumably due to the toxicity of the hydroperoxides.
