LAUSR

Lipids are one of the major components of human diet, which is found in the plant seed oil composed of different amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids [1, 2]. Polyunsaturated long chain fatty acids are very important to human health for normal cellular and physiological functioning. Some fatty acids are referred to as essential fatty acids required for diet as well as food supplements [3]. Essential fatty acids in the body are converted to the corresponding higher polyunsaturated fatty acids [4]. About 80 to 90% polyunsaturated fatty acids in the human diet are provided by linoleic acid (18:2), which is a major constituent of several vital vegetable oils such as soybean, sunflower, and corn oils [5]. Recent research is mainly focused on new sources of plant oils containing the most abundant fatty acids. One such important source of plant oil is the plant Kleinhovia hospita L. (Malvaceae, earlier Sterculiaceae), which is an evergreen tree and is native to the tropical parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. It is a bushy tree growing up to 20 m high, with a dense rounded crown and upright pink sprays of flowers and fruits [6]. Many parts of this plant have been applied for a long time as a folk medicine in treating pruritus, tetter, hepatitis, and scabies in Malaya, Indonesia, Papua, New Guinea, and China [7, 8]. Cycloartane triterpenoids and cycloartane triterpenoid alkaloids (kleinhospitines A–D), having potential hepatoprotective activity, were successfully isolated from the leaves and twigs of K. hospita [7, 9]. The leaf extract of K. hospita was found to contain the antioxidative compounds kaempferol 3-O-β-D-glucoside and eleutherol with moderate cytotoxic activity [8, 10]. The present communication presents the physico-chemical characterization and fatty acid constituents of the seeds of K. hospita and deals with their antibacterial and antioxidant activities. The information so obtained from such oils can be of great help in the future for the potential utility of such fatty acids in food and industry. Investigation on the physico-chemical properties of K. hospita seed oil showed it to be a greenish yellow colored semiliquid at room temperature (27°C). The yield of extracted seed oil was 8.04 g/100 g. Among several physico-chemical properties, the density, specific gravity, and acid and saponification values were determined and to be 1.69 ± 0.03, 1.65 ± 0.04, 32.07 ± 0.87 mg KOH/g, and 194.11 ± 0.95 mg KOH/g, respectively. The saponification value of K. hospita seed oil is comparable to sunflower oil and soybean oil [11, 12]. The resulting acid value indicates the presence of a major amount of fatty acids in the seed oil. The IR (ν, cm–1) streching values of the saponified oil, 3443.8 (OH), 2922.16, 2846.50 (CH2), 1708.93 (C=O), 1460.11 C=C (unsaturation), and 1284.59 C–O (str. COOH), gives a preliminary idea of the primary functional groups in the fatty acid mixture. The relative percentages of indentified and unidentified fatty acids obtained from seed oil are shown in Table 1. Twelve fatty acids were identified and quantified with an extent up to 98.90%, whereas three unidentified compounds were obtained with an amount of 1.10%. Saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were found to be 45.26% and 53.64%, respectively. Thus, the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids was 1:1.19. The numbers of identified saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were determined as nine and three, respectively. The major amounts of fatty acids were linoleic acid (31.90%), oleic acid (21.50%), palmitic acid (21.10%), and stearic acid (14.59%). The rest of the identified fatty acids were found in comparatively signignificant amounts. Linoleic acid is a naturally occurring unsaturated fatty acid and is essential for human health.