Quantitative Measurement of the Chemical Composition of Fatty Acid of Cocoa Butter and the Isotopic Content of Glycerol Contained in Cocoa Butter by the NMR ¹³C from the INEPT Sequence and Characterization of the Geographical Origin of the Cocoa

The determination of the chemical composition of cocoa butter and the isotopic contents of the carbons (C-2, C-1 and C-3) of the glycerol contained in the cocoa butter were measured by the NMR-13C from the INEPT sequence. This technique has already been applied to triglycerides of animal origin. Thus, cocoa butter is made up of nearly 66% saturated fatty acid composed mainly of stearic acid and palmitic acid. Monounsaturated fatty acids represented by oleic acid have an average content of 31% and polyunsaturated fatty acids represent less than 4%. Likewise, the isotopic contents of the glycerol of the triglycerides of cocoa butter in 13C of the carbons C-2, C-1 and C-3 were measured directly and values vary from -11‰ to -19‰ for the C-2 and from -39‰ to -41‰ for all C-1 and C-3 because of the symmetry of glycerol.