Articles of September 2009

These days in the world, the traditional food, forage and fibre crops are not the only plants of key agricultural and trade significance, but also include plants whose secondary metabolites are valued for their characteristic aromatic or therapeutic attributes. Some specific oil constituents, used as chiral auxiliaries in synthetic organic chemistry and microbial transformations of common structures to give highly functionalized substances of enhanced economic value, are the dimension of their commercial importance.

(a) Oils

The oils are principal components of foods consumed daily. These constitute more concentrated source of energy in the diet, supplying new calories per gram, compared with calories supplied by carbohydrates and proteins. Besides, serving as source of energy, the oils and fats known as lipids are essential components of cell membranes and are necessary for the absorption and utilization of soluble vitamins in the lipids: A, D,E and K. As lipids are digested little, more slowly than proteins and the carbohydrates tend to decrease “the velocity of digestive process. The lipids and oils are formed by triglycerides which in turn are composed of fatty acids and glycerol. The fatty acids are divided in saturated and unsaturated ones. Generally, the lipids of animal origin contain more saturated acids and solid at environmental temperature '(butter, cheese), while those of vegetable origin contain more fatty unsaturated acids and liquid(oils) The principal vegetable oils are those of soybean, cotton, sunflower, maize, palm, olive, mustard, canola, peanut and sesamum of approximately 66 oils. The oils are the first important group of lipidf Glycine max.