Analysis of free phytosterols/stanols and their intact fatty acid and phenolic acid esters in various corn cultivars

The contents and the compositions of free sterols/stanols, steryl/stanyl fatty acid esters and steryl/stanyl phenolic acid esters were determined in 25 corn cultivars grown at the same location and in the same year. The lipid extracts obtained from the flours of whole kernels were subjected to solid-phase extraction for the isolation and separation of the sterol classes, followed by capillary gas chromatography. The study provides for the first time information on the variability of individual steryl/stanyl fatty acid esters in corn cultivars. The analysis revealed pronounced differences in total contents of each sterol class. The levels of free sterols/stanols ranged from 298 to 433 μg/g dry matter flour, those of steryl/stanyl fatty acid esters from 430 to 1187 μg/g and those of steryl/stanyl phenolic acid esters from 46 to 240 μg/g. Free sterols/stanols were mainly composed of sitosterol and campesterol; up to 11% were made up of stanols. Steryl/stanyl esters of C18-fatty acids were dominating, with sitosteryl linoleate as the most abundant ester (44.7-53.5% of total fatty acid esters). Among the three investigated sterol classes, the distribution patterns of steryl/stanyl phenolic acid esters showed the greatest variability between the cultivars, even though trans-sitostanyl ferulate was the dominating ester in all samples.