New Tocopherol Dimers.

Abstract

Four new tocopherol dimers were discovered during fractiona-tion of fresh corn oil. Structural studies allow these dimers to be assigned as 5-([gamma]-tocopheryloxy)-[gamma]-tocopherol (la), 5-([lambda] -tocopheryloxy) -[gamma]-tocopherol (lb), 5-([gamma]-tocotrienyl)-[gamma] -tocopherol (2a), and 5-([gamma]-tocopheryl)-[gamma]-tocopherol (2b). Dimers lb and 2a are "mixed" dimers involving 2 different tocopherols or tocotrienols. These mixed dimers are a new type of tocopherol dimer. Dimer 2a appears to be the 1st observation of tocotrienol in corn oil. The tocopherol dimers from corn oil may form intact biological systems during normal metabolism, or they may be artefacts of the isolation procedure, or conceivably they are both naturally occurring and artefactual. It has not yet been possible to differentiate between these possibilities because of the ease and non-specificity of their formation.