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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Bio-oils Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #307035

Title: Fatty acid profile of Albizia lebbeck and Albizia saman seed oils: Presence of coronaric acid

Author
item Knothe, Gerhard
item PHOO, ZAN WIN MOH MOH - De La Salle University
item DE CASTRO, ELLENITA - De La Salle University
item RAZON, LUIS - De La Salle University

Submitted to: European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2014
Publication Date: 4/30/2015
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62045
Citation: Knothe, G.H., Phoo, Z., De Castro, E.G., Razon, L.F. 2015. Fatty acid profile of Albizia lebbeck and Albizia saman seed oils: Presence of coronaric acid. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. 117(4):567-574.

Interpretive Summary: A biogenic alternative to diesel fuel derived from petroleum is biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils, animal fats, used cooking oils, or other feedstocks with suitable components. New feedstocks are important for biodiesel because insufficient amounts of commonly used vegetable oils or other feedstocks are available to replace all petroleum-derived diesel fuel. In this work, the seed oils of several varieties of plants from a genus named Albizia not previously utilized for biodiesel or other purposes are described regarding their composition. Components not previously identified in these oils were detected. Information about the composition of new feedstocks is essential to correlate fuel and other properties with their components and determine the suitability of the feedstocks.

Technical Abstract: In this work, the fatty acid profiles of the seed oils of Albizia lebbeck and Albizia saman (Samanea saman) are reported. The oils were analyzed by GC, GC-MS, and NMR. The most prominent fatty acid in both oils is linoleic acid (30-40%), followed by palmitic acid and oleic acid for A. lebbeck and oleic acid and behenic acid for A. saman. Both oils contain slightly more than 30% saturated fatty acids with stearic, eicosanoic, and tetracosanoic acids present as well as odd-numbered saturated fatty acids in minor amounts. Furthermore, for the first time, epoxy fatty acids are reported in the fatty acid profiles of Albizia seed oils. Coronaric acid (9,10-epoxy-12(Z)-octadecenoic acid) is the major epoxy fatty acid at approximately 3-4% of the fatty acid profiles with minor amounts of vernolic (12,13-epoxy-9(Z)-octadecenoic acid) and 9,10-epoxystearic acids also detected. The results are compared to previous literature on the fatty acid profiles of other Albizia seed oils. The coronaric acid content of Albizia resembles that of Acacia species with both genera belonging to the Fabaceae family. The mass spectrum of the pyridylcarbinyl (picolinyl) ester of coronaric acid is reported.