Composition of Lipids of Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Seed Oil

Abstract

The lipid composition of beech (Fagus sylvatica) seeds is reported in the present study. Triacylglycerols (94.8%) were found to be the major component in the oil followed by sterols (0.9%) diacylglycerols (0.8%), phospholipids (0.7%), free fatty acids (0.5%) and monoacylglycerols (0.3%) in minor quantities. The composition of molecular species of triacylglycerols was analyzed by GC on the basis of chain length and C-57 was found to be the major species followed by C-55, C-59, C-53 and C-61. The sterol fraction constituted β-sitosterol and stigmasterol with 89.3 and 10.7% respectively. Phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine were the two phospholipids with 55 and 45% present in the phospholipid fraction of the beech seed oil. Oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids were found to be the major fatty acids in all the acyl lipid classes with small variations in quantities. © 1989, Verlag der Zeitschrift. All rights reserved.