cis-Vaccenic acid in pulp lipids of commonly available fruits

Apiaceae Family an Important Source of Petroselinic Fatty Acid: Abundance, Biosynthesis, Chemistry, and Biological Proprieties

Petroselinic fatty acid (PeFA) is considered a rare fatty acid and one of the most important fatty acids in the Apiaceae family. Its content varies depending on plant species, geographical origin, extraction method, ripeness, etc. Indeed, reported levels of petroselinic fatty acid range from 10.4 to 75.6% (in anise seed oil), 1 to 81.9% (in coriander seed oil), 28.5 to 57.6% (in caraway seed oil), 49.4 to 75.6% (in celery seed oil), 41.3 to 61.8% (in caraway seed oil), 79.9 to 87.2% (in dill seed oil), 43.1 to 81.9% (in fennel seed oil), and 35 to 75.1% (parsley seed oil). In this review, we also show current knowledge about genes encoding biosynthesis, from the desaturation of 16:0-ACP to petroselinic acid stored in triacylglycerol in the seeds. Furthermore, petroselinic acid is not related to the synthesis of ABA. PeFA was successfully isolated from Apiaceae family plant seeds in order to study their reactivity and biological activities. Several investigations showed that this fatty acid has a wide range of biological potentials, including antidiabetic, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. In cosmetics, PeFA alone or in association with other active compounds has interesting applications as an anti-inflammatory agent for the treatment of skin, hair, and nail disorders.

Emerging Lipids from Arecaceae Palm Fruits in Brazil

Arecaceae palm tree fruits (APTFs) with pulp or kernel rich in oil are widely distributed in six Brazilian biomes. APTFs represent a great potential for the sustainable exploitation of products with high added value, but few literature studies have reported their properties and industrial applications. The lack of information leads to underutilization, low consumption, commercialization, and processing of these fruit species. This review presents and discusses the occurrence of 13 APTFs and the composition, physicochemical properties, bioactive compounds, and potential applications of their 25 oils and fats. The reported studies showed that the species present different lipid profiles. Multivariate analysis based on principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) indicated a correlation between the composition of pulp and kernel oils. Myristic, caprylic, capric, and lauric acids are the main saturated fatty acids, while oleic acid is the main unsaturated. Carotenoids and phenolic compounds are the main bioactive compounds in APTFs, contributing to their high oxidative stability. The APTFs oils have a potential for use as foods and ingredients in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and biofuel industries. However, more studies are still necessary to better understand and exploit these species.

A Catalog of Natural Products Occurring in Watermelon-Citrullus lanatus

Sweet dessert watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is one of the most important vegetable crops consumed throughout the world. The chemical composition of watermelon provides both high nutritional value and various health benefits. The present manuscript introduces a catalog of 1,679 small molecules occurring in the watermelon and their cheminformatics analysis for diverse features. In this catalog, the phytochemicals are associated with the literature describing their presence in the watermelon plant, and when possible, concentration values in various plant parts (flesh, seeds, leaves, roots, rind). Also cataloged are the chemical classes, molecular weight and formula, chemical structure, and certain physical and chemical properties for each phytochemical. In our view, knowing precisely what is in what we eat, as this catalog does for watermelon, supports both the rationale for certain controlled feeding studies in the field of precision nutrition, and plant breeding efforts for the development of new varieties with enhanced concentrations of specific phytochemicals. Additionally, improved and comprehensive collections of natural products accessible to the public will be especially useful to researchers in nutrition, cheminformatics, bioinformatics, and drug development, among other disciplines.

Oleic Acid Is not the Only Relevant Mono-Unsaturated Fatty Ester in Olive Oil

(1) Background: Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a precious and universally studied food matrix. Recently, the quantitative chemical composition was investigated by an innovative processing method for the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments called Multi-Assignment Recovered Analysis (MARA)-NMR. (2) Methods: Any EVOO 13-carbon NMR (¹³C-NMR) profile displayed inconsistent signals. This mismatch was resolved by comparing NMR data to the official gas-chromatographic flame ionization detection (GC-FID) experiments: the analyses concerned many EVOOs but also the "exotic" Capparis spinosa oil (CSO). (3) Results: NMR and GC-FID evidenced the overwhelming presence of cis-vaccenic esters in the CSO and, more importantly, cis-vaccenic ¹³C-NMR resonances unequivocally matched the misunderstood ¹³C-NMR signals of EVOOs. The updated assignment revealed the unexpected relevant presence of cis-vaccenic ester (around 3%) in EVOOs; it was neglected, so far, because routine and official GC-FID profiles did not resolve oleic and cis-vaccenic signals leading to the total quantification of both monounsaturated fatty esters. (4) Conclusions: The rebuilt MARA-NMR and GC-FID interpretations consistently show a meaningful presence of cis-vaccenic esters in EVOOs, whose content could be a discrimination factor featuring specific cultivar or geographical origin. The study paves the way toward new quantification panels and scientific research concerning vegetable oils.

The physico-chemical properties of some citrus seeds and seed oils

The chemical properties, mineral contents, fatty acid and tocopherol contents of seed and seed oils of some citrus genus provided from several locations in Turkey and Saudi Arabia were determined. While Ca contents of seeds were between 5018 mg/kg (Kütdiken lemon) and 7619 mg/kg (kinnow mandarin), K contents of seeds varied between 7007 mg/kg (Orlando orange) and 10334 mg/kg (kinnow mandarin). Glucose and fructose contents of citrus seed samples varied between 3.75 g/kg and 5.75 g/kg, and 4.09 g/kg and 6.03 g/kg. Palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids were established as dominant fatty acids. Palmitic, oleic and linoleic acid contents of citrus seed oils varied between 19.6% (Kütdiken lemon) and 26.2% (pineapple orange), 21.3% (kinnow mandarin) and 31.4% (Kütdiken lemon) and 32.3% (Kütdiken lemon) and 43.7% (kinnow mandarin), respectively. The total amount of tocopherols of Turkish citrus oil varied between 0.5 mg/100 g (Fremont mandarin) and 18.8 mg/100 g (bitter orange).

Chemical analysis of some Salvia species native to West Azarbaijan (Iran)

Present survey was performed on nine species of Salvia (Lamiaceae) growing wild in different regions of West Azarbaijan in Iran (S. limbata, S. vertisillata, S. macrochlamys, S. nemorosa, S. ceratophylla, S. candidissima, S. syriaca, S. multicaulis, S. sclarea). In this research, three of the most important biochemical characters such as total protein content, total oil content and fatty acids combination in seeds of these species were considered. Analysis of species average comparison variance conducted with ANOVA and Duncan's test (p < 0.05) revealed that there is a significant difference about protein content, oil content and fatty acid composition among species.

Geranium sanguineum (Geraniaceae) seed oil: A new source of petroselinic and vernolic acid

The occurrence of petroselinic acid (18:1delta6cis) in seed oils was believed to be limited to the Umbelliferae or Apiaceae, and a few other members of the Umbelliflorae. A major occurrence of petroselinic acid outside the Umbelliflorae must therefore be regarded as highly unusual and surprising. The seed oil of Geranium sanguineum, a member of the family Geraniaceae, has now been found to contain petroselinic and vernolic acids as major FA in its seed oil TAG. These unusual FA have not been reported previously as constituents of Geraniaceae seed oils. The structure and composition of the seed oil FA from G. sanguineum were determined by combined use of chromatographic (TLC, capillary GLC) and spectroscopic (IR, GC-MS) techniques. The double-bond position in petroselinic acid was located unambiguously by the characteristic mass fragmentation of its dimethyldisulfide (DMDS) adduct. The epoxy FA was identified as vernolic acid by co-chromatography and by the mass fragments formed during GC-MS of the products of the epoxy ring-opening reaction with BF3 in methanol.

Dibutyrate derivatization of monoacylglycerols for the resolution of regioisomers of oleic, petroselinic, and cis-vaccenic acids

Dibutyrate derivatives of monoacylglycerols of oleic, petroselinic, and cis-vaccenic acids were prepared by diesterification of monoacylglycerols with n-butyryl chloride. The resulting triacylglycerols were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) with a 65% phenyl methyl silicone capillary column and separated on the basis of both fatty acid composition and regiospecific position. The petroselinic acid derivatives eluted first, followed sequentially by the oleic and cis-vaccenic acid derivatives, with the sn-2 positional isomer eluting before the sn-1 (3) isomer in each case. Separation of the peaks was almost baseline between petroselinic and oleic acids as well as between oleic and cis-vaccenic acids. To assess the accuracy of the method, mixtures of triolein, tripetroselinin, and tri-cis-vaccenin in various known proportions were partially deacylated with the use of ethyl magnesium bromide and derivatized and analyzed as above. The results showed that this method compares favorably to the existing methods for analysis of oleic, petroselinic, and cis-vaccenic fatty acids by GC with respect to peak separation and accuracy, and it also provides information on the regiospecific distribution of the fatty acids. The method was applied to basil (Ocimum basilicum) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum) seed oils. cis-Vaccenic, oleic, and linoleic acids were mainly distributed at the sn-2 position in basil seed oil, and higher proportions of linolenic, palmitic, and stearic acids were distributed at the sn-1(3) position than at the sn-2 position. In coriander seed oil, petroselinic acid was mainly distributed at the sn-1 (3) position, and both oleic and linoleic acids were mostly located at the sn-2 position, whereas palmitic, stearic, and cis-vaccenic acids were located only at the sn-1 (3) position.

cis-9,cis-15-octadecadienoic acid: a novel fatty acid found in higher plants

An unusual fatty acid, cis-9,cis-15-octadecadienoic acid, has been identified in the pulp lipids of mango (Mangifera indica L.) grown in the Philippines. To our knowledge, the occurrence of cis-9,cis-15-octadecadienoic acid in higher plant lipids has not been previously reported. The structure confirmation was based on the results of chromatographic (capillary GC, argentation thin-layer) and spectrometric (GC-MS, infrared, ultraviolet) analysis and chemical treatment. This butylene-interrupted dienoic fatty acid is concentrated in the pulp part of mango fruit and occupies 5.4% of total acyl groups in the pulp lipids; whereas a common octadecadienoic acid, linoleic acid, is a minor component (1.1%) in the same lipids. If a trivial name is desired, it is suggested that cis-9,cis-15-octadecadienoic acid be called "mangiferic" acid.

Novel pathways of oleic and cis-vaccenic acid biosynthesis by an enzymatic double-bond shifting reaction in higher plants

The novel pathways of oleic acid formation from cis-vaccenic (cis-11-octadecenoic) acid and of cis-vaccenic acid formation from oleic acid by enzymatic positional isomerization have been proposed in higher plants, based on stable-isotope experiments using [2,2-2H2]cis-vaccenate or [2,2-2H2]oleate as an immediate precursor. A pulp homogenate and also pulp slices prepared from developing kaki (Diospyros kaki) fruit could catalyze these hitherto unknown isomerizations. This suggests the presence of a new type of isomerase responsible for the double-bond shifting reaction without cis-trans isomerization in the middle of fatty acid carbon chains.