The dehydration of
sterol
s during the refining proce
ss of vegetable oil
s re
sult
s in the formation of
steroidal hydrocarbon
s (
sterene
s or
steradiene
s) with two double bond
s in the ring
sy
stem. Other
steroidal hydrocarbon
s who
se
structure
s were in agreement with the pre
sence of three double bond
sin the ring
sy
stem were detected in the
sterene fraction
s of refined vegetable oil
s. The 5
![](/image<font color=)
s/gifchar
s/alpha.gif" BORDER=0>-, 7
![](/image<font color=)
s/gifchar
s/alpha.gif" BORDER=0>-, and7
![](/image<font color=)
s/gifchar
s/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle">-hydroxy derivative
s of chole
sterol and phyto
sterol
s have been dehydrated in
n-butanol/H
3PO
4to form
steroidal hydrocarbon
s with three double bond
s at the 2, 4, and 6 po
sition
s in the ring
sy
stem. The
se hydrocarbon
s had the
same relative retention time and ma
ss spectra a
s tho
se pre
sentin the
sterene fraction
s of refined oil
s. The dehydration of the hydroxy
sterol
s di
ssolved in extravirgin olive oil and in the pre
sence of 1% bleaching earth
s at 80
![](/image<font color=)
s/entitie
s/deg.gif">C for 1 h re
sult
s in the formationof the
same
steroidal hydrocarbon
s found in the refined oil
s.Keyword
s: Steroidal hydrocarbon
s;
sterene
s;
steratriene
s; hydroxy
sterol
s; refined oil
s; ga
schromatography/ma
ss spectrometry; bleaching