Palm oil carotenoids

Abstract

An examination of the proportion of [alpha]- to [beta]-carotene in samples of oil obtained from unripe and ripe bunches of palm fruit failed to provide evidence for the suggestion (Hunter and Scott, Biochem. Jour., 1941, 35, 31) that the [alpha]-carotene present in palm oil may arise from the asymmetric isomerization of [beta]-carotene by way of 3-carbon prototropic change. Samples of oil obtained from the Afia Oku and Liscombe vars. show little difference between the proportion of [alpha]- to [beta]-carotene obtained from the same palm, although there is quite a wide variation from tree to tree. Attempts to effect the interconversion of [alpha]- and [beta]-carotene by heating with Na isopropoxide in isopropanol proved unsuccessful.