Fatty Acids, Sterols, and Triterpenes of the Fruits of 8 Heracleum Taxa

• Published in: Natural product communications Vol. 14; no. 6; p. 1934578
• Main Authors: Ušjak, Ljuboš, Sofrenić, Ivana, Tešević, Vele, Drobac, Milica, Niketić, Marjan, Petrović, Silvana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2019
• Subjects: fruits; fatty acids; Apiaceae; GC-FID and GC-MS; triterpenes; Heracleum taxa; sterols
• ISSN: 1934-578X; 1555-9475
• DOI: 10.1177/1934578X19856788

Fatty acids (FAs), sterols, and triterpenes of dichloromethane extracts of the fruits of 8 Heracleum L. taxa (Apiaceae) from southeastern Europe were investigated by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. In order to analyze the FAs, their volatile methyl esters were obtained by saponification and subsequent esterification of oily supernatants of the fruit extracts. Dominant was petroselinic acid (42.8%-56.5%), followed by linoleic (20.3%-33.3%) and oleic acids (12.3%-13.7%). Sterols and triterpenes were analyzed as volatile derivatives obtained by the silanization of residual unsaponifiable fractions. Among them, the most abundant was β-sitosterol (44.9%-56.9%), followed by stigmasterol (15.7%-25.0%), Δ7-stigmastenol (6.6%-12.5%), and campesterol (5.2%-8.1%). The quantity of petroselinic acid was also determined by the external standard method (298.8-433.4 mg/g of oily supernatant). The obtained results show that the investigated plants are potential valuable sources of the compounds utilized in different industries.