Abstract
Triacylglycerols (TG) were isolated from rice bran and three types of oil-bearing seed, and their molecular species compositions were determined mainly by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Rice bran TG was separable into at least twenty-three kinds of molecular species, among which the major types were POL (palmitoyloleoyllinolein), OOL (dioleoyllinolein), OLL (oleoyldilinolein), PLL (palmitoyldilinolein), POO (palmitoyldiolein) and OOO (triolein). With regard to the component fatty acid distribution at the C-2 position of the TG molecule, linoleic acid was usually richer than oleic acid in POL and OLL species, whereas in OOL species the ratio of the two acids was approximately 1: 1. On the other hand, the principal molecular species of corn, soybean and sunflower TG were commonly LLL (trilinolein), OLL, PLL and POL, but their relative proportions were considerably different from one another among the plant species. Analysis of the TG compositions of eight kinds of rice bran, differing in variety and growing district, and those of four varieties of soybean, harvested in the same regions, showed no significant differences in molecular species among them in either case.
