Abstract
Blackcurrant seed oil is known to be one of the richest natural sources of γ-linolenic (allcis-6,9,12-octadecatrienoic) acid, with values of up to 20% of this acid. These concentrations are sufficient for most applications of the oil, but some utilizations require higher concentrations of γ-linolenic acid. Blackcurrant seed oil also contains up to 14%α-linolenic (allcis-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic) acid. Different fractionation techniques have been evaluated to separate γ-linolenic acid specifically from the other fatty acids present in the oil and, in particular, fromα-linolenic acid.
Distillation as well as fractionated crystallization at various temperatures did not give any reasonable results. Surprisingly enough, urea fractionation in methanol gives a specific separation ofα- and γ-linolenic acid, whereas stearidonic (allcis-6,9,12,15-octadecatetraenoic) acid, which is present at around 3% in the blackcurrant seed oil, cannot be separated by urea fractionation.
Stearidonic acid, like γ-linolenic acid, has a double bond in the Δ6 position, which makes these two acids unique in this respect. This most probably explains their similar behavior toward urea-occlusion.
Further semi-industrial preparative HPLC separations allowed us to obtain fractions of 95% γ-linolenic acid.
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Traifler, H., Wille, H.J. & Studer, A. Fractionation of blackcurrant seed oil. J Am Oil Chem Soc 65, 755–760 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02542525
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02542525