Comparative study of fatty acid composition and nervonic acid contents of four tropicals plants: Ricinodendron heudelotii, Cyperus esculentus, Citrullus colocynthis and Irvingia gabonensis from Cte dIvoire

This work was carried out to compare the potential applications of Ricinodendron heudelotii, Cyperus esculentus, Citrullus colocynthis and Irvingia gabonensis oil seeds by investigating their physicochemical parameters. Physicochemical parameters of the extracted oils were respectively as follow: Refractive index (1.49; 1.46; 1.45 and 1.44), acid value (1.35±0.02; 1.87 ± 0.45; 13.85 ± 0.02 and 39.04 ± 0.34 mg KOH/g), peroxide value (37.98 ± 0.01; 86.16 ± 0.32; 48.77 ± 0.22 and 2.34 ± 0.31 meq O2/kg), iodine value (142.12 ± 0.34; 75.46 ± 0.35; 120.45 ± 0.29 and 07.42 ± 0.3 g I2/100 g), saponification value (154.67 ± 0.28; 175.47 ± 0.30; 175.64 ± 0.28 and 176.03 ± 0.50 mg KOH/g), unsaponifiable matter (1.88 ± 0.04; 0.88 ± 0.03; 0.74 ± 0.03 and 1.26 ± 0.05%), vitamin A (0.00 ± 0.00; 2.78 ± 0.07; 3.66 ± 0.04 and 7.17 ± 0.32 µg/g), cholesterol (0.00 mg/g) for R. heudelotii, C. esculentus, C. colocynthis and I. gabonensis. P-anisidine value (301.17 ± 0.98; 24.47 ± 0.03; 29.04 ± 0.03 and 0.39 ± 0.00). R. heudelotii and C. colocynthis seeds showed relatively high content of linoleic acid (about 26.61 and 53.09% of total fatty acids). The nervonic acid content of the R. heudelotii seed is 45.24 ± 0.02 of total fatty acids. All these interesting characteristics should arouse attention for the usage of these oils seeds in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic industries and biodiesel. These results suggest that they can be good for table, cooking and frying oils. The high linoleic acid level makes them good oils for the fight against cardiovascular illnesses. In addition, the high content of nervonic acid in R. heudelotii oil could be used in cases of diseases involving demyelination, such as adrenoleukodystrophy and multiple sclerosis where there is a considerable reduction in the levels of nervonic acid in the sphingolipids.   Key words: Acid nervonic, fatty acids, oils seeds.