RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 36 (2) September 2024, p. 524-533

N-ALKANE PROFILES OF LARD AND VEGETABLE OILS, AND THEIR CHEMOMETRICS DIFFERENTIATION

NUR AIN SYAQIRAH SAPIAN1,2; MUHAMAD AIDILFITRI MOHAMAD ROSLAN1,2,3; AMALIA MOHD HASHIM1,4; YANTY NOORZIANNA ABDUL MANAF5; MOHD NASIR MOHD DESA1; MURNI HALIM2; MUHAMAD SHIRWAN ABDULLAH SANI6; MOHD TERMIZI YUSOF4; MOHD SABRI PAK DEK7 and HELMI WASOH1,2*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2023.0038
Received: 1 January 2023   Accepted: 5 July 2023   Published Online: 22 August 2023
ABSTRACT

This research aims to examine fat from various vegetable oils using n-alkane profiles, as well as chemometrics and machine learning. Unsaponifiable vegetable oils (coconut, peanut, palm and soybean oils) were separated and analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to investigate the n-alkane profiles of each fat. The authenticity of the detected n-alkane profiles was determined by comparing to the retention time of C7-C40 n-alkane standards. The test designs were developed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Clustering Analysis (HCA), Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), and Random Forest (RF). Both PCA and HCA appeared to provide a clear distinction between each of the vegetable oil tests. Based on the PLS-DA and RF determination, tetracosane (C24) and octadecane (C18) are proposed as the key n-alkane markers for separating lard from vegetable oils. These findings suggest that additional work may be required to achieve and determine the different characteristics across oils in numerous statistical applications, notably chemometrics and machine learning.

KEYWORDS:


1 Halal Products Research Institute,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

2 Department of Bioprocess Technology,
Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

3 Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.

4 Department of Microbiology,
Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

5 Halal Research Group, Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS,
88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

6 International Institute for Halal Research and Training,
International Islamic University Malaysia,
53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

7 Department of Food Science,
Faculty of Food Science and Technology,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: helmi_wmi@upm.edu.my