Abstract
The present study, aimed at presenting comprehensive data on the content of storage and structure lipids of the unexploited wild Onopordum acanthium vegetable oil during achenes development. By using ESI-MS, and Total mass spectral intensities, we identified and determined the proportions of sixteen TAG species. POP, SOP, OLS, GLL, ALO and PLLn were detected for the first time. In addition five phospholipid (PL) classes were discerned. Interestingly, each stage of maturation was characterized by the dominance of one or two phospholipid classes with generally Phosphati-dylglycerol as the prominent form in all collection dates (48.2% of total PLs). Various PL molecular species were detected in each class of glycerophospholipid. The main acyl chains were found to be palmitic; linoleic and linolenic acids. Unexpectedly, linolenic acid was found more frequently in phospholipids than in triglycerides. Our findings provide useful information about a new source of vegetable oil that can be exploited in food or non-food applications.