Determination of Unsaponifiable Constituents of Deodorizer Distillates by GC-MS

Deodorizer distillate is an important by-product obtained during deodorization in the edible oil industries. It is a complex mixture of many health beneficial constituents like phytosterols, tocopherols and squalene. In the present study a simple gas chromatographic method with mass spectrometry was used for the separation, detection and quantification of different components present in the deodorizer distillate in a very short analysis time of 18 min. A simple saponification procedure without derivatization was used for their analysis followed by GC-MS analysis. Phytosterols concentration (21.27-25.53%) was the most abundant in canola and palm distillate samples whereas, squalene and tocopherol were present in concentration ranges of 2.89-13.21% and 1.29-5.81%, respectively. The present study revealed that the unsaponifiable fraction of deodorizer distillate could be used in cosmetic preparations due to its appreciable amount of bioactive constituents.