Fractioning and Compared 1H NMR and GC-MS Analyses of Lanolin Acid Components

The management of food and food-related wastes represents a growing global issue, as they are hard to recycle and dispose of. Foremost, waste can serve as an important source of biomasses. Particularly, fat-enriched biomasses are receiving more and more attention for their role in the manufacturing of biofuels. Nonetheless, many biomasses have been set aside over the years. Wool wax, also known as lanolin, has a huge potential for becoming a source of typical and atypical fatty acids. The main aim of this work was to evaluate and assess a protocol for the fractioning of fatty acids from lanolin, a natural by-product of the shearing of sheep, alongside the design of a new and rapid quantitative GC-MS method for the derivatization of free fatty acids in fat mixtures, using MethElute (TM). As the acid portion of lanolin is characterized by the presence of both aliphatic and hydroxylated fatty acids, we also evaluated a procedure for the parting of these two species, by using NMR spectroscopy, benefitting of the different solubilities of the components in organic solvents. At last, we evaluated and quantified the fatty acids and the alpha-hydroxy fatty acids present in each attained portion, employing both analytical and synthetic standards. The performed analyses, both qualitative and quantitative, showed a good performance in the parting of the different acid components, and GC-MS allowed to speculate that the majority of alpha-hydroxylated fatty acids is formed of linear saturated carbon chains, while the totality of properly said fatty acids has a much more complex profile.

Automated summary

The management of food and food-related wastes is a critical global issue due to their difficulty in recycling and disposal. Waste can be utilized as a significant source of biomass, with particular attention on fat-enriched biomasses for biofuel production. In this study, the focus was on evaluating a protocol for fractioning fatty acids from lanolin, a natural by-product of sheep shearing, and developing a fast quantitative GC-MS method for derivatizing free fatty acids in fat mixtures using MethElute (TM). Additionally, the separation of aliphatic and hydroxylated fatty acids in lanolin was assessed using NMR spectroscopy. The qualitative and quantitative analyses showed successful separation of different acid components, revealing that alpha-hydroxylated fatty acids primarily consist of linear saturated carbon chains, while other fatty acids exhibit a more complex profile.