Stereospecific analysis of triacylglycerols in camel (Camelus dromedarius) milk fat

In the lipid fraction of camel (Camelus dromedarius) milk the percentage of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) was 62.8% with a content of palmitic acid of 28.5%. The unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) fraction was dominated by oleic and palmitoleic acids. Enzyme digestion and chemical degradation methods were used to determine the intramolecular fatty acid (FA) composition and then the intermolecular FA distribution in the three sn-positions of the triacylglycerols of the camel milk. FAs showed a specific preference for a particular position: in all samples studied, SFAs were prevalently esterified in the sn-2 position, while UFAs occupied mainly the sn-1 and sn-3 position. As the carbon chain lengthened from 8 to 16 the percentages of SFAs decreased in the sn-2 position and increased in the outer positions. Such data indicated that the length of the carbon chain could be a discriminating factor in the acylation process of SFAs.