i e 2 63 g representing a 62 yield of the triglyceride to isolate more of the triglyceride the original aqueous extract of the reaction mixture was acidified and extracted again with ch 2 cl 2 in this way a second amber liquid was obtained 1 82 g by tlc this material was 30 triglyceride i e 0 55 g representing another 13 yield of the triglyceride the overall yield was thus 75 based on the amount of glycerol used preparative tlc was used to separate the triglyceride from unreacted starting ester the fatty acid profile of the triglyceride contained 47 9 epa and 25 4 dha fatty acid residues an ethyl ester mixture containing 24 9 18 4n3 all cis 6 9 12 15 octadecatetraenoic or stearidonic acid and 42 0 epa no 174 in table 1 10 008 g 0 0319 mole 7 27 moles per mole glycerol anhydrous glycerol 0 404 g 0 00439 mole and sodium dispersion 0 105 g 0 00183 mole 0 139 mole per hydroxyl group were combined in a round bottom flask the flask was evacuated and heated to 74 u00b0 82 u00b0 c for 22 5 hr work up as in example 1 yielded 16 3n4 16 4nl 18 4n3 and 20.