Premium
The common occurrence of furan fatty acids in plants
Author(s) -
Hannemann Kerstin,
Puchta Volker,
Simon Ernst,
Ziegler Herta,
Ziegler Gunter,
Spiteller Gerhard
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
lipids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.601
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1558-9307
pISSN - 0024-4201
DOI - 10.1007/bf02535166
Subject(s) - amino acid , chemistry , furan , side chain , lipidology , urine , long chain , stereochemistry , biochemistry , clinical chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer science , polymer
The observation that F‐acids (1) occur in rat chow initiated a search for F‐acids in human diet. We observed that the amount of F‐acids with a pentyl side chain in α‐position taken up with a one‐day diet correlates well with the amount of excreted degradation products, the pentyl urofuran acids (2), (3) and (4). Therefore it can be concluded that F‐acids with a pentyl side chain are not produced in the human body but are introduced through the diet. The origin of F‐acids carrying an α‐propyl side chain is less clear. The amount of propyl‐urofuran acids (2) and (3) excreted in urine was found in one case out of three to be five times higher than the amount of F‐acids carrying a propyl group in α‐position taken up by the diet. Therefore, it can presently not be excluded that a portion of the propyl F‐acids is produced by the body. F‐acids found in human food are mainly introduced into the body by vegetables and fruits. F‐acids were found also in birch leaves in considerable amounts, as well as in grasses, dandelion and clover leaves. Thus, we can conclude that F‐acids are common constituents of plants.