Separation of wax esters from steryl esters by chromatography on magnesium hydroxide.

Chromatography of stearyl oleate and cholesteryl oleate on thin layer plates coated with magnesium hydroxide-celite, 1:1, or magnesia-celite, 1:1, showed that magnesium hydroxide had better resolving power for the separation of these wax ester and steryl ester model compounds than did magnesia, an adsorbent which has been used previously for this separation. By means of high pressure liquid chromatography on magnesium hydroxide, wax esters and steryl esters from the skin surface lipids of human, rat and monkey were separated completely and without hydrolysis.