Abstract: The nutritional ingredients of Artemia were studied. The effective constituents of Artemia oil in two distillates, separated by molecular distillation, were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. 18 compounds in off-odor fraction(distillateⅠ)were identified, and their relative contents were determined. The major constituents are found to be butyrolactone, 7-propylidene, decane- 2, 9-dimethyl-, undecanoic acid, and oleic acid with the relative contents of 31.65%, 15.20%, 8.76%, 3.36% and 4.78% respectivelye. 15 compounds in distillateⅡ were identified with the content about 71.60%, and the relative content is 85.11%. The major constituents are found to be palmitic acid, oleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and linolenic acid with the relative contents of 26.86%, 35.35%, 3.45%, 3.03% respectively, and the polyunsaturated fatty acids have the content of 40.34%with the relative content of 47.95%. It was indicated that the fatty acids are concentrated efficiently with the total content of 84.21% by molecular distillation, meanwhile the fragment peek of impurities have fewer interference by assayed GC-MS.

Key words: GC-MS, molecular distillation, artemia oil, unsaturated fatty acid