Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 12 No. 1, June 2000, p. 14-24
VALUABLE MINOR CONSTITUENTS OF COMMERCIAL RED PALM OLEIN: CAROTENOIDS, VITAMIN E, UBIQUINONES AND STEROLS
The important minor constituents of crude palm oil (CPO) – carotenoids, vitamin E, ubiquinones and sterols are also preserved in the commercial red palm olein (CRPo). The average carotene content was found to be about 665 ppm. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) profile of carotenoids showed that all the 11 types of carotenoids of CPO were preserved in CRPo, a – and b -carotene still constitute about 80% of the total carotenoids. Xanthophylls: dehydro-retinal, x -caroten-dione and b -caroten-5,6-epoxide were also tentatively identified based on their UV spectra and elution order. The vitamin E content was in the range of 717-863 ppm, consisting of a-tocopherol (19%), a -tocotrienol (29%), g -tocotrienol (41%), and d -tocotrienol (10%).The sterol content is in the range of 325-365 ppm consisting of b -sitosterol (59%), campesterol (22%), stigmasterol (17%) and cholesterol (<2.6%). Coenzyme Q10 was detected in CRPo with a concentration range of 18-25 ppm. The fatty acid composition indicates that CRPo has 46.7% monounsaturated, 12.8% polyunsaturated and 40.5% saturated fats.
KEYWORDS:* Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
PO. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.