Minor components in oils obtained from Amazonian palm fruits.

This study deals with the characterization of minor compounds in oils obtained from the mesocarp of fruits of the main palm species from the State of Amapá, Brazil, i.e. bacaba (Oenocarpus bacaba), buriti (Mauritia flexuosa), inajá (Maximiliana maripa), pupunha (Bactris gasipaes) and tucumá (Astrocaryum vulgare). The concentration of minor glyceridic compounds, i.e. dimeric triacylglycerols (TAG), the oxidized TAG and diacylglycerols (DAG) related to oil quality, and the compounds of unsaponifiable matter, i.e. hydrocarbons, aliphatic alcohols, sterols and tocopherols have been determined. The results indicate that the extracted oils had good initial quality, with DAG as the major glyceridic compound. The contents of hydrocarbons (50-734 mg-kg-1) and aliphatic alcohols (80-490 mg-kg-1) were highly variable with Inajá oil containing the highest contents. In the case of tocopherols, buriti (1567 mg-kg-1) and tucumá (483 mg-kg-1) oils had the highest contents and the presence of significant amounts of tocotrienols was only detected in inajá oil. Finally, high concentrations of sterols were found in all the samples, particularly in the oils from pupunha (4456 mg-kg-1) and tucumá (2708 mg-kg-1), with (^-sitosterol being the major sterol in all the samples with percentages between 65 and 83%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]