The component acids of the fats of the following marine algae have been investigated by gas-liquid chromatography:Rhodymenia palmata, Laurencia pinnatifida, Laminaria digitata, L. saccharina, Fucus vesiculosus, F. serratus, Pelvetia canaliculata, Ascophyllum nodosum. The principal saturated acids are palmitic and myristic acids, some contain ca. 2–5% of stearic acid; traces of C8 and C10 saturated acids are present, but C12 (and in all but one) C 20saturated acids are absent. The major unsaturated acids are octadecenoic and octadecadienoic acids (probably oleic and linoleic acids), but some species also contain appreciable amounts (up to 12%) of hexadecenoic acid. All the oils contain significant amounts of an eicosatetraenoic acid (probably arachidonic acid) and in some eicosatrienoic and/or eicosapentaenoic acids are also present in small quantities. Two acids of unknown constitution (possibly branched chain acids) are also present in minor amounts. No C22 unsaturated acids could be detected.

INTRODUCTION

Very little is known about the component fatty acids of marine algae. Lovern (1936) examined the fatty acids from the fats of Fucus vesiculosus, Laminaria digitata and Rhodymenia palmata using lead salt crystallization and fractional distillation techniques (Table 2). With these methods, however, it was not possible to separate individual unsaturated acids having the same number of carbon atoms from one another. The mean unsaturation values of these fractions were therefore evaluated from their iodine values and expressed as the number of hydrogen atoms necessary to convert the fraction to the corresponding fully saturated state; thus ( — 4–0H) indicates an average unsaturation corresponding with two double bonds.