The potential of capillary electrophoresis was demonstrated to the determination of fatty acids in food and cosmetic samples and a validated method is proposed to palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids quantification in these samples.

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Omega-3 fatty acids (FA) are mainly available as triacylglycerols (TAG) and ethyl esters (EE) in fish oils and it is known that EE are less bioavailable than TAG in the human body. This study applied ATR-FTIR and Raman associated with chemometrics to evaluate supplements lipid form. Representative products were firstly characterized by reference chromatographic methods. Subsequently, principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square discriminant analysis were performed in the spectral wavenumber of 1700-1780 cm -1 (ATR-FTIR) and 1720-1770 cm -1 (Raman). TAG and EE were clearly distinguished along PC1 employing both techniques, but higher explained variance was obtained by ATR-FTIR. The prediction of TAG and EE fish oils samples was also better using ATR-FTIR (R-square = 0.99 versus 0.95 for Raman). However, both models classified correctly 100% of samples, which indicates the suitability of these approaches to be used in quality control laboratories aiming for fish oils lipid form evaluation.

Fatty acids determination is of paramount importance for quality control and suitable labeling of edible oils, required by regulatory agencies in several countries, and fast methods for this determination are worldly desired. This review article aimed to explore the available analytical methods for vegetable and marine oils analyses employing CE, which can be a straightforward and faster alternative than GC methods for fatty acid determination, considering some purposes. CE usually offers the possibility of a rapid analysis with a simple preparation of the sample, without requiring specific columns, which are inherent advantages of the technique. Instrumental conditions and the key points about fatty acids determination employing the technique are highlighted, and the main challenges and perspectives are also approached. Potential use of CE for edible oil analyses has been demonstrated for research and routine, which can be of interest for industries, regulatory agencies, and edible oil researchers. Therefore, we have explored the analytical approaches described in the last decades, intending to spread the interest of CE methods for fatty acid monitoring, label accuracy assessment, and food authenticity evaluation of edible oils.

The advent of policies that incentivize or require alternative diesel fuels has increased the demand for the development of fast analytical methods aiming for the quality control of these fuels. This study approached an alternative method for the determination of biodiesel acidity employing capillary zone electrophoresis based on free fatty acids screening and quantification. Sample preparation comprised vortex-assisted liquid-liquid extraction of free fatty acids and was a crucial step for analysis. It was studied through a 3 2 full factorial design considering sample mass and the stirring time. Then, solvent suitability was evaluated univariately. The free fatty acid screening was carried out employing a capillary zone electrophoresis method able to separate C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 n-9, C18:2 n-6, and C18:3 n-3, major fatty acids in a variety of vegetable oils used for biodiesel synthesis. In addition to the straightforward sample preparation protocol, the running time of the developed method was only 12 min. Moreover, ultraviolet absorption indirect detection of analytes was approached to avoid analytes derivatization, considering the lack of chromophore groups in saturated fatty acids. Statistical tests did not evidence any significant differences in the biodiesel acidity determination expressed in percentage of free fatty acids when comparing the proposed capillary zone electrophoresis method and the traditional potentiometric titration approach within the 95% confidence interval, which demonstrates the suitability of this alternative method for the biodiesel quality control in routine.