Accelerated solvent extraction is an extraction method that significantly streamlines sample preparation. The production of oil from oilseeds is an important business, and agronomists are continuing to investigate ways to improve the oil output of the seeds as well as ways to control the composition of the oil itself. The procedures described in this application note apply to the determination of oil content in oilseeds. The oil content is determined by collecting the extracts in preweighed vials, evaporating the solvent with a nitrogen stream and reweighing the vials.

The Thermo Scientific Acclaim C30 5 µm column provides higher resolution than the Thermo Scientific Acclaim 120 C18 5 µm column for the triglyceride profile from cooking oil. The detailed fingerprint was obtained with a 70 minutes run time with detection by the Thermo Scientific Dionex Corona Ultra charged aerosol detector.

The profile of egg lecithin was determined using a Thermo Scientific Acclaim C30 5 µm column with Thermo Scientific Dionex Corona Ultra charged aerosol detection. It indicates that lecithin from egg yolk contains both phospholipids and triglycerides with other minor impurities.

The Thermo Scientific Dionex UltiMate 3000 HPLC system is applied for the separation of glycerides. The analysis demonstrates an alternative use of the Thermo Scientific Acclaim HILIC-10 HPLC column, operating in normal-phase (NP) mode. This gradient flow method allows for a quick and simple separation of triglycerides, diglycerides and mononogycerides with charged aerosol detection (CAD).

The Thermo Scientific Trace GC system is applied for the ASTM D6584 determination of glycerol and glycerides in biodiesel. The separation is performed on a Thermo Scientific TraceGOLD TG-5MT 15m x 0.25mm (0.1µm film), with flame ionisation detection.