Characterization of fatty acid and sterol composition of seed lipid of Lagerstroemia speciosa Pers.

Abstract

Fatty acid and sterol composition of petroleum ether (60–80 °C)-extracted oil from mature seeds of Lagerstroemia speciosa Pers. have been analyzed by GC studies. The fatty acids were also identified by GC–MS analyses. Here, the fatty acid composition was determined for the glycerides (triglycerides) from the seed oil of L. speciosa and not for the free fatty acids. Oil content of the seeds was found to be 16.048 g/kg (weight per kg dry materials). The oil of the seeds contained 20 identified fatty acids, accounting for 78.17 % of the total fatty acids and 23 unidentified compounds. The predominant fatty acids are linoleic acid (48.57 %), palmitic acid (14.46 %) and stearic acid (7.74 %). Thus, the seed oil is rich in essential fatty acids and may be considered as edible oil from a nutritional point of view. Some odd carbon number fatty acids (pelargonic acid C9:0, pentadecylic acid C15:0, margaric acid C17:0, and heneicosylic acid C21:0) are first reported from L. speciosa seed oil. Also, the oil of the seeds contained five identified sterols, accounting 30.34 % of the total sterols and some unidentified compounds. The analysis of those unidentified compounds is still going on. The predominant sterols were Ergosta-4,6,22-trien-3.β.-ol, acetate (14.53 %), Ergosta-4,6,22-trien-3.α.-ol, acetate (7.56 %) and Cholesta-3,5-diene (5.01 %).