Analysis of the chemical constituents of Thompson atemoya seed oil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition in extracts of atemoya (var. Thompson) seed oil by spectrometric methods. The following extraction methods were performed: chemical extraction using hexane, mechanical extraction using a press, and partitioned extraction. The composition of each of the extracts was analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and more than 100 compounds were identified. The major constituents of the hexane extraction were (Z)-hexadec-9-enal (49.42%) and triolein (23.28%), and the mechanically obtained extract contained elaidic acid (66.11%) and stearic acid (8.81%). In the partitioned extraction, the hydromethanolic fraction contained dihydroxyacetone (19.16%), 3-deoxy-d-mannoic lactone (16.34%), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (10.77%), and 3-propanediol, 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-nitro (9.89%); the hexane fraction contained gamma-sitosterol (31.73%), erucic acid (14.64%), stigmasterol (13.30%) and triolein (10.90%); the chloroform fraction contained gamma-sitosterol (22.11%), vaccenic acid (15.49%), triolein (14.65%) and stigmasterol (10.65%); and the ethyl acetate fraction contained (Z)-icos-9-enoic acid (31.28%), beta-sitosterol (16.29%), pentadecanoic acid (11.53%) and eicosanoic acid (8.01%).