ABSTRACT
Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are complex molecules present in all oils and fats. They mainly serve as energy stores, but they are also employed as carriers of fatty acids (FAs) within aqueous solutions such as blood. TAGs are made up of three FAs, attached to a glycerol backbone by an ester linkage. The wide variety of FAs that may attach to the glycerol backbone generates the large diversity of TAGs that can be found. The fat stores of both plant and animal organisms are formed by mixtures of TAGs, the FAs containing from 4 to 36 carbon atoms, with up to six double bonds. Each of these FAs are combined in triplets to form TAGs that share very similar physicochemical properties, thus making their separation and analysis difcult.
