Components of royal jelly: I. Identification of the organic acids

This present work characterizes the fatty acid constituents of the lipid fraction of royal jelly. Among the organic acids found after fractionation by thin layer chromatography of the corresponding methyl esters, the following compounds were identified by combined GC-MS: saturated and unsaturated linear fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated linear and branched dicarboxylic acids, mono-and dihydroxy acids. The most common characteristic of the organic acids was that most contained 8 or 10 carbon atoms, whether saturated or unsaturated, linear or branched.