The rate at which rat pancreatic lipase (glycerol-ester hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.3) hydrolyzes the esters of primary n-alcohols containing from 1 to 18 carbon atoms with fatty acids containing from 2 to 18 carbon atoms was determined. The speed of hydrolysis was influenced, apparently independently, by both the acyl and the alkyl chains. With respect to the fatty acid moiety, the esters of dodecanoi...

BACKGROUND The steadily increasing demand for diesel fuels calls for renewable energy sources. This has attracted a growing amount of research to develop advanced, alternative biodiesel worldwide. Several major disadvantages of current biodiesels are the undesirable physical properties such as high viscosity and poor low-temperature operability. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop nov...

Data on the normal distribution of fatty acids in the cholesterol ester fraction of rat plasma and liver and on factors which may influence their distribution are extremely limited at the present time. The information available has been obtained by alkali isomerization and silicic acid and paper chromatography techniques. These methods do not provide an adequate identification and estimation of...

Chronic blepharitis has been a difficult disease to define either microbiologically or biochemically. Sterols from meibomian secretions of normal subjects and patients were analyzed, and important differences were observed. Based on analyses of these secretions, two significantly different (P less than 0.001) types of normal subjects were found, those with and those without cholesterol esters [...

A major feature of the development of atherosclerotic lesions in the major arteries of man and most animals is a very large increase in the amounts of cholesteryl esters in the smooth-muscle cells of the tunica intima. The cholesterol moiety of cholesteryl esters is derived almost exclusively from lipoproteins of the blood, whereas the fatty acid portion may originate both from the blood and by...

Glycerol is a by-product of biodiesel produced by transesterification and is contained in the glycerol phase together with many other materials such as soaps, remaining catalyst, water, and esters formed during the process. The content of glycerol is approximately 30-60 wt.%. In this paper, treatments of the glycerol phase to obtain glycerol with a purity of 86 wt.% (without distillation) and a...

The technique of gas-liquid chromatography-chemical ionization mass spectrometry can easily identify trace peaks and unresolved peaks on gas-liquid chromatography, utilizing MH(+) ions of chemical ionization mass spectra. In polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl esters such as C22:5 and C22:6, the determination of molecular weights that are difficult to determine by electron impact mass spectrometr...

WITH THE growing interest in the metabolism of cholesterol esters, procedures have been developed which frequently make desirable the use of chemically pure compounds. Some of the radioactive cholesterol esters are either commercially unavailable or expensive when made to order. The high cost of the starting materials (cholesterol-4-CI4, pure fatty acids) makes it desirable to have a good yield...

Wax esters are esters of long-chain fatty acids and long-chain fatty alcohols which are of considerable commercial importance and are produced on a scale of 3 million tons per year. The oil from the jojoba plant (Simmondsia chinensis) is the main biological source of wax esters. Although it has a multitude of potential applications, the use of jojoba oil is restricted, due to its high price. In...

Fatty acyl-coenzyme A (CoA):estradiol acyltransferase in liver microsomes catalyzes the formation of estradiol fatty acid esters. These esters are lipophilic and have prolonged hormonal activity because they are slowly metabolized and because they slowly release estradiol. In the present study, we have shown that treatment of rats with clofibrate or gemfibrozil (peroxisome proliferators that ar...