CHARACTERISATION OF VOLATILE AND SEMI-VOLATILE COMPOUNDS OF OILS FROM Solanum lycocarpum FRUITS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY

Oils were obtained from unripe and ripe fruits of Solanum lycocarpum. In this study, the volatile and semi-volatile compounds of oils were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Oil of unripe fruits (OUF) of S. lycocarpum exhibited principally fatty acids, esters, hydrocarbons and sterols. However, oil of ripe fruits (ORF) presented the major compounds esters and sterols. In OUF-7, the predominant compound was octadecanoic acid (73.37%), in ORF-2, octadecanoic acid octadecyl ester (59.30%) and in ORF-3 hexadecanoic acid hexadecyl ester (97.98%). Sitosterol, identified in OUF-2 and OUF-6, is predominant sterol found in various species of Solanum can have chemotaxonomy importance for this genus. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that volatile and semi-volatile compounds of oils from S. lycocarpum fruits have been characterized.