Extraction of fatty acids contained in fruit from Ficus benjamina: lipid profile and thermal studies

Abstract

In this work were studied the fatty acids of the fruit from Ficus benjamina, which is a tree of the Moraceae family and is largely found in Brazil as an ornamental tree, normally used for afforestation in public ways and also for indoor residences. The fruit has a diameter around 1 cm which is appreciated by several types of birds. The lipids extraction from fruit was carried out with hexane reagent, and the fatty acids were evaluated by chromatography and also by thermal analysis. The thermal characterization was done in different purge gases and heating rates. The results obtained showed that the fatty acid has a light green colour wax with a high melting point. Chromatography analysis showed that the composition of the saturated and unsaturated fatty acids was 53.48 and 46.52%, respectively. The thermoanalytical study showed that this wax has several mass losses, which are dependent on the type of purge gas used. Details regarding their kinetic behaviour were acquired and showed that the analysis at nitrogen purge gas is very similar to that observed at carbon gas.