Doubling the length of a CP-Sil 88 capillary column (Chrompack, Middelburg, The Netherlands) from 50 to 100 m remarkably improves the resolution of individual trans-18:1 isomers from either ruminant fats or partially hydrogenated oils. Although the use of a 50-m column gives interesting results, it does not allow sufficient resolution of the trans-10 and trans-11 18:1 isomers. Moreover, the trans-6 to trans-9 18:1 isomers emerge as a single group of peaks, whereas the trans-12 isomer is only partly resolved from the adjacent trans-11 and trans-13 plus trans-14 isomers. With the 100-m column, the trans-9, trans-lO, and trans-12 18:1 isomers are almost baseline resolved from other isomers. However, with both columns, it is not possible to separate the critical pair of trans-13 and trans-14 18:1 acids which co-elute under a single peak. Despite this minor drawback, the 100-m CP-Sil 88 column appears to be of great interest for the separation and the quantitation of most individual trans-18:1 acids. Except for the use of argentation thin-layer chromatography, there is no need for complementary techniques, such as ozonolysis. This simple and powerful tool may be applied to ruminant fats, partially hydrogenated oils, and human tissue lipids. JAOCS 72, 1197-1201 (1 995).