Proton NMR study of extra Virgin Olive Oil with temperature: Freezing and melting kinetics

The thermal properties of an extra Virgin Olive Oil (eVOO) depend on its composition and indeed characterize its quality. Many studies have shown that the freezing and melting behaviors of eVOOs can serve for geographical or chemical discrimination. We use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy to study the evolution of the fatty acids bands as a function of temperature during freezing and melting processes. In such a way we can follow separately the variations in the thermal properties of the different molecular groups during these thermodynamic phase transitions. The data indicate that the methyl group which is at the end of every fatty chain displays the major changes during both freezing and melting processes.