title: Composition of the hydrocarbon fraction of goats' milk.
abstract: The hydrocarbon fraction of the neutral lipids of goats' milk was chromatographically purified and analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The goats' milk samples, which were collected during the spring of the year, represent a cross-sectional analysis; the purified hydrocarbon fraction displays a broad spectrum of compounds. The major components of the hydrocarbon fraction identified for the first time in goats' milk were 3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadec-2-ene (phytene-2) (1.5%), squalene (approximately 2.5%), and n-C29H60 (4.2%); in addition, a series of odd and even carbon number n-alkanes (C15 to C33), a series of alkenes (C16 to C23), and a series of branched chain hydrocarbons were found. The goats' milk hydrocarbon fraction, in comparison to the known distribution from cows' milk, contains a good deal less squalene and phytene, and is more complex. One human milk hydrocarbon fraction isolated from a longitudinal composite sample from one lactation displays a distribution that appears to be more closely related to that of human skin lipids (1983. J. Lipid Res. 24: 120-130) than to those of goats' and cows' milk.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats; D006801:Humans; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008892:Milk / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D007202:Indicators and Reagents