COMPOSITION OF NATURAL FATS AND OILS 209 



cases, many huiidi'ods of crystallizations wore involved in the study of a 

 single fat. Klimont-^^ isolated another triglyceride, tripalmitin, from rab- 

 bit fat. The simple triglj^'erides of myristic and lauric acids have been 

 separated from vegetable fats especially high in these acids. Thus, tri- 

 myristin was obtained in 4i()% yield by Bomer and Ebacli'-^" from nutmeg 

 butter, while trilaurin has been isolated by the same workers from the fat 

 of the Grecian laurel {Laurus nohilis), to the amount of 30%. Krafft^^* 

 confirmed both of these results. 



Some simple triglycerides of unsaturated fatty acids have likewise been 

 shown to be natural products. Triolein has been isolated from duck and 

 goose fats by tw^o groups of workers. ^^-^^ Hilditch and Meara-^^ have 

 prepared trierucin in a 40% yield from nasturtium seed oil. Amberger^'*^'^*^ 

 obtained evidence that butter fat contains about 2% of triolein, w^hile it was 

 indicated that this triglyceride is probably present to the extent of about 

 45% in goose fat.-^^ 



Although the amount of the simple triglycerides is undoubtedly much 

 higher than w^ould be indicated by the quantities which have been isolated 

 in pure form, the results nevertheless indicate that the major proportion of 

 the fatty acids is probably present in the form of mixed triglycerides. 



(6) Mixed Triglycerides Isolated from Natural Fats and Oils. For some 

 time after Chevreul had demonstrated that fats w^ere glycerol esters of 

 palmitic, stearic, oleic, and other acids, it was more or less generally be- 

 lieved that they w^ere composed entirely of simple triglycerides. How- 

 ever, after it was shown, in 1860, that glycerol is a triatomic alcohol, Berthe- 

 lot"* suggested the possibility that mixed triglycerides might exist. Such a 

 compound was first demonstrated by Heise,-^^ who separated a consider- 

 able quantity of oleodistearin from mkanyi fat from the East African tallow 

 tree {Allanhlackia Stuhlmannii),-'^'^ an observation which was later con- 

 firmed by Henriques and Kiinne.^'*'' It is now realized that the mixed tri- 

 glycerides are present to a much greater proportion in vegetable and ani- 

 mal fats than are the simple triglycerides. 



Myristodilaurin has been found in coconut oiP" and in palm kernel fat,^^* 

 as well as in babassu fat.-**^ Laurodimyristin has been isolated from coco- 



"9 J. Klimont, Monatsh., 33, 441-446 (1912). 



2« A. Bomer and K. Ebach, Z. Untersuch. Lebensm., 55, 501-524 (1928). 



2" C. Amberger and K. Bromig, Z. Untersuch. Nahr. Genussm., 42, 193-218 (1921). 



^-is C. Amberger, Z. Untersuch. Nahr. Genussm., 26, 65-85 (1913). 



2" C. Amberger, Z. Untersuch. Nahr. Genussm., 35, 313-381 (1918). 



2^^ R. Heise, cited in Tropenpflanzer, 3, 203-206 (1899). 



2« Anonymous, Tropenpflanzer, 1, 10 (1897). 



2^« R. Henriques and H. Kiinne, Ber., 32, 387-394 (1899). 



2^' A. Bomer and J. Baumaiui, Z. Untersuch. Nahr. Genussm., 40, 97-151 (1920). 



^^ A. Bomer and K. Schneider, Z. Untersuch. Nahr. Genussm., 47, 61-89 (1924). 



2« A. Bomer and H. Hiittig, Z. Untersuch. Lebensm., 75, 1-33 (1938). 



