Volatile Oils And Fatty Oils From Leaves And Seeds Of Moringa Olifera Lam. Cultivated In Southeast Vietnam

Abstract

Volatile oils and fatty oils from leaves and seeds of Moringa oleifera Lam. varieties cultivated in Ho Chi Minh City
(HCM) Dong Nai province (DN), and Ninh Thuan province (NT) were extracted and evaluated. The volatile oil was
extracted by hydrodistillation from 4-6 hours. The fatty oil of seeds was extracted by solvent extraction with
hexane for 9 hours. The chemical composition of the oils was analysed by Gas Chromatography-Mass
Spectrometry (GC/MS) and Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC/FID) methods. The leaf/seed oil
contents of HCM, DN, and NT varieties were obtained with yields of 0.10%/0.19%, 0.04%/0.13%, and
0.07%/0.15%, respectively. The leaf oil of the HCM variety contained 15 constituents of which the major is 7-
isoprenyl oxycoumarin (26.11%) followed by n-tricosane (21.27%), n-tetracosane (15.65%), trans-nonadecene
(8.14%), geranial (7.59%), and neral (6.89%). The leaf oil of DN variety contained 45 constituents of which the
major is limonene (38.99%) followed by 7-isoprenyl oxycoumarin (26.11%), n-pentacosane (5.86%), and nheptacosane (5.67%). The leaf oil of NT variety contained 26 constituents of which the major is 7-isoprenyl
oxycoumarin (20.37%) followed by coumarin (18.12%), n-tricosane (16.54%), cabreuva D oxide (14.67%), and ntetracosane (10.16%). M. oleifera plants of three varieties gave volatile seed oils containing particularly a
homologous series of alkanes from C12 to C34 (58.05-81.28%). The seed fatty oils of three M. oleifera varieties
obtained by solvent extraction with hexane gave 31-38% of the content. Their chemical compositions presented
mainly C12-C26 fatty acids including saturated fatty acids (23-24%) and unsaturated fatty acids (64-77%)
dominated by omega-7&9 fatty oils (60-76%).