Abstract
Essential oils from six different parts of Blighia unijugata Bak., were obtained using Clevenger-type apparatus; they gave yields between 0.061 and 0.824%. Chemical constituents of the oils were determined using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis show forty-seven compounds are present in the leaf oil, twenty-one compounds are in stem-bark, twenty-four in stem oil, sixteen in root oil, twenty-five in flower and twenty-nine in fruit with seed oils. Leaf oil was dominated by methyl salicylate (40.68%), oleic acid (8.74%) and 2-morpholinophenazine (5.20%); stem-bark oil has its most abundant compounds as octadec-9-enoic acid (25.63%), 2-[(tert-butyldimethylsily)oxy]-1-isopropyl-dimethyl-benzene (14.83%) and octadecanoic acid (10.12%). Stem oil contain mostly oleic acid (23.01%), 1,3-dibromo-4,5-dimethylbenzene (15.91%) and 3,7-dimethyl-8-oxo-5-dioxa-spiro[5,5]-3-methyl-undecanoate (8.00%). Principal compounds in root oil are oleic acid (25.53%), 1,2-bis-(trimethylsilyl)benzene (17.97%) and octadecanoic acid (9.60%). Twenty-four compounds were identified in flower oil, which account for 99.28% of it, with its most abundant compounds being oleic acid (25.34%), decamethyl-tracylosane (12.73%) and 2,2-diphenyl-2h-1-benzopyran (9.57%); while the fruit with seed oil is dominated by 2-penten-1-ol (30.68%), 3-methyl-pentane (14.75%) and methyl-cyclopentane (11.71%). Esters dominate leaf oil (47.35%), carboxylic acids were prominent in stem bark, stem, flower and root oils (48.34, 34.36, 35.56 and 50.02%, respectively). Monoterpenes (2.25%), indoles (1.06%) and quinones (1.59%) were abundant in leaf oil while sesquiterpenoids were only in leaf and stem bark oils (0.52 and 0.49%, respectively). This paper report the varied compositions of the six essential oils obtained from different parts of the ethno-medicinally applied Blighia unijugata, which have not been reported earlier in literature. Key words: Blighia unijugata, essential oil, esters, carboxylic acids, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenoids, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Sapindaceae.
Highlights
Blighia unijugata Bak belongs to the family Sapindaceae known as soapberry
Leaf oil was dominated by methyl salicylate (40.68%), oleic acid (8.74%) and 2-morpholinophenazine (5.20%); stem-bark oil has its most abundant compounds as octadec-9-enoic acid (25.63%), 2-[(tertbutyldimethylsily)oxy]-1-isopropyl-dimethyl-benzene (14.83%) and octadecanoic acid (10.12%)
This paper report the varied compositions of the six essential oils obtained from different parts of the ethno-medicinally applied Blighia unijugata, which have not been reported earlier in literature
Summary
Blighia unijugata Bak belongs to the family Sapindaceae known as soapberry. This family contains approximately 1900 species in 140 genera, which can be classified into 4 sub-families (Acevedo-Rodriguez et al, 2011). The three species of Blighia are Blighia sapida (Ackee), B. unijugata and B. welwitschii. B. unijugata is a forest species widespread in tropical Africa, from Sierra Leone to Cameroon. The plant is found in Cote d’voire during secondary formations as reforestation (Davies and Verdcourt, 1998; Burkill, 2000). It is found in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda (Burkill, 2000)
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