Analysis of fatty acids in soil and sediments

Fatty acids are one of the most important classes of naturally occurring organic compounds. Various organisms have distinctive fatty acid profiles. Therefore analyzing fatty acids present in soil and sediments can provide important information on sources of origin of the organic matter; Analysis of fatty acids by gas chromatography requires derivatization to produce a derivative volatile enough for gas chromatography followed by mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis. In this work conventional acid catalyzed derivatization methods and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) chemopyrolysis methods were examined and compared. Results obtained for Lake Mead sediments show the variation of fatty acids profile with depth, which leads to an important information on sources of organic matter present in the lake