The seed tipids of three species of Entandrapbragma (Meliaceae) contain the largest proportion (31-50%) of ds-vaccenic acid ever found in nature. The acid is not indicative of the family as a whole and is found as a major fatty acid in the seed of only one additional species, besides Entandrapbragma, out of the 30 analyzed from this family. With the total oil comprising between 45 and 62% of Entandrapbragma seed, these species should be considered as a source of undecadioic acid for the production of nylon 11.

Thirty percent of the fatty acids from He/iophila amplexicaulis seed oil are hydroxy acids, primarily lesquerolic acid (14-hydroxy-cis-11-eicosenoic acid) with a trace of a new fatty acid, 16hydroxy-cis-13-docosenoic acid. The hydroxy acids in the oil are found exclusively in the 1 and/or 3 positions of the triglycerides and are completely acylated with C20 or C22 saturated or monoenoic adds.

Synthetic triglycerides with more than three acyl groups were prepared by forming estolides from triglycerides containing one, two, or three monohydroxy fatty acyl moieties. These tetra‐, penta‐, and hexaacyl triglycerides were examined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thin layer chromatography (TLC). HPLC separation by the number of acyl groups was obtained with both conventional phase and reverse phase columns. In all systems, triglycerides were eluted first, followed in sequence by tetra‐, penta‐, and hexaacyl triglycerides. Within each glyceride class, further separation occurred due to variations in chain length and degree of unsaturation among the component acids. TLC migration on silica gel was found to be a function of the number of acyl groups and the length of component acid chains.

The kernel oil of Chinese tallow(Sapium sebiferum) seed contains tetraester triglycerides composed oftrans‐2, cis‐4‐decadienoic acid joined in an estolide linkage to 8‐hydroxy‐5, 6‐octadienoic acid. A rapid (< 10 min) method of separation and quantitation of the tri‐glyceride and estolide triglyceride fractions of the oil has been devel‐oped using high performance liquid chromatography with infrared detection.