Hydroperoxide formation during autoxidation of conjugated linoleic acid methyl ester

The aim of this study was to investigate whether hydroperoxides are formed in the autoxidation of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) methyl ester both in the presence and absence of α-tocopherol. The existence of hydroperoxide protons was confirmed by D2O exchange and by chemoselective reduction of the hydroperoxide groups into hydroxyl groups using NaBH4. These experiments were followed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The 13C and 1HNMR spectra of a mixture of 9-hydroper-oxy-10-trans,12-cis-octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (9-OOH) and 13-hydroperoxy-9-cis, 11-trans-octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (13-OOH), which are formed during the autoxidation of methyl linoleate, were studied in detail to allow the comparison between the two linoleate hydroperoxides and the CLA methyl ester hydroperoxides. The 13CNMR spectra of samples enriched with one of the two linoleate hydroperoxide isomers were assigned using 2D NMR techniques, namely Correlated Spectroscopy (COSY), gradient Heteronuclear Multiple Bond Correlation (gHMBC), and gradient Heteronuclear Single Quantum Correlation (gHSQC). The 13C and 1H NMR experiments performed in this study show that hydroperoxides are formed during the autoxidation of CLA methyl ester both in the presence and absence of α-tocopherol and that the major isomers of CLA methyl ester hydroperoxides have a conjugated monohydroperoxydiene structure similar to that in linoleate hydroperoxides.