| The physicochemical indexes and composition of lanolin have a greater impact on its performance. Therefore, the basic physicochemical indexes including melting point, moisture and volatile content, ash content, acid value, peroxide value, iodine value and chroma of raw lanolin were determined by national standard and other methods. The main components of lanolin were separated and identified by thin-layer chromatography and column chromatography method. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of lanonol and lanolin fatty acids was carried out by GC-MS. The results showed that compared with refined lanolin (pharmacopoeia level), raw lanolin had darker color, slightly higher moisture and volatile content, ash content, iodine value and acid value. The main components of lanolin were fatty acid esters, hydroxy fatty acid esters, free sterols and polyols, which accounted for 55.14%, 25.57%, 4.04% and 13.15% of the total mass of lanolin, respectively. The triglycerides in raw lanolin were not detected. The main components of lanonol were cholesterol and lanosterol, with relative contents of 44.31% and 14.62%, respectively. Moreover, cholesterol and lanosterol in lanolin accounted for 10.41% and 3.43% of the whole raw lanolin. The main compositions of lanolin fatty acids were saturated fatty acids with the carbon chain length of C13-C27. In addition, the branched chain fatty acids content was as high as 62.03%, while the isomeric branched chain and trans-isomeric branched fatty acids accounted for 27.56% and 34.47%, respectively. |
