“…The TLC-FID ester peak was constituted by the coelution of steryl and aliphatic esters. First, the molecular distribution of steryl esters, for the two fractions obtained, was determined by using subambient pressure GC-CI-MS since steryl esters, and particularly cholesteryl esters are thermally labile (24). Steryl esters present in wool wax can be determined by their sterol composition (i.e., lanosterol, dihydrolanosterol, or cholesterol), acid moiety, and isomeric form, namely, normal, iso and anteiso, with iso corresponding to (ω-1)-monomethyl-substituted FFA and anteiso to (ω-2)-monomethyl-substituted (21).…”