As has been stated several times before, when working with Lipids,
consider two major Internet and book resources.
For formal lipid analysis methods, AOCS is the first port of call, and in this case they also publish the series " Advances in conjugated linoleic acid research ", which will probably discuss analytical issues and techniques. If you want to use GC ( which isn't the only techniques, as nmr, UV, IR and HPLC ( UV or ELSD detection ) have also been used), you may be looking at a 100 meter capillary column.
For research lipid analysis methods, W.W.Christie is the expert, and has provided a CLA summary with pointers to published information-
http://www.lipidlibrary.co.uk/topics/cla/index.htm
along with a detailed practical guide.
http://www.lipidlibrary.co.uk/topics/cla_meth/index.htm
There are a lot of analytical issues associated with CLA analysis, so a literature search should be performed to ensure the technique and conditions you select will be appropriate for your samples.
Bruce Hamilton
