ConclusionsThe results presented sh

ConclusionsThe results presented show that the most useful method ofplant fatty acid GC analysis is the one based on the derivatizationusing (trimethylsilyl)diazomethane. It was much more precise thanstandard BF3/MeOH reaction, in the same time producing loweramount of interferences in the range of retention times charac-teristic for common plant FAs. However, some overestimation ofFA(18:0) content cannot be excluded when TMSD is used. Methodsbased on the synthesis of trimethylsilyl or tert-butyldimethylsilylderivatives were more difficult to apply because of the transes-terification products appearing on the chromatograms. After theoptimization of the hydrolysis procedure, quite precise and repeat-able results were obtained. However, due to the poor separation ofFA(18:X) compounds and the large amount of interferences, thereliable analysis using silylation was impossible. It can be an inter-esting alternative for the GC–MS analyses, as long as full separationof the compounds is not required. Additional experiments concern-ing the development of procedures for the analysis of silylated plantFAs are, however, still needed.