Side-chain autoxidation of stigmasterol and analysis of a mixture of phytosterol oxidation products by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods

Although the structure of phytosterols is closely related to cholesterol, there is a gap in knowledge concerning the formation and occurrence of oxidation products from phytosterols. The main objective of this study was to isolate and characterize some side-chain oxidation products formed after autoxidation of stigmasterol. Another objective was to highlight the difficulties in the analysis of phytosterol and a mixture of their oxidation products by GC. Pure stigmasterol was oxidized at 120degreesC for 72 h in an air-ventilated oven. Preparative TLC separated the oxidation products, and the products were characterized with GC-MS and NMR. In addition to the common ring-structure oxidation compounds, three semipolar oxidation products-24-ethylcholest-5,22-dien-3beta,25-diol, 24-ethylcholest-5,22-dien-3beta,24-diol, and 24-ethyl-5,22-choladien-3beta-ol-24-one-were characterized for the first time by TLC, GC-MS, and NMR. Moreover, the results of the analysis of a large number of oxidation products from sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol by capillary column GC indicated that further efforts and optimization are required in this area.