A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ACACIA SEYAL STEM, STEM WOOD AND STEM BARK DRY DISTILLATES USED BY SUDANESES WOMEN AS COSMETIC AND MEDICINE

Objective: The content and chemical composition of dry distillates of the stem, stem wood and stem bark of Acacia seyal were investigated. The distillates are fumigants of A. seyal locally known in Sudan as Dokhan and widely used for its cosmetic, aromatic and medicinal value for the treatment of candidiasis, genital yeast infection, urinary tract infection, diarrhoea, respiratory tract infection, skin infection and with potent, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.Methods: The dry distillates were prepared by dry distillation method from the Acacia seyal stem, stem wood and stem bark and investigated chemically by GC-MS analysis.Results: The percentage yield of dry distillates (Dokhan) wer found to be 4.0 %, 4.8%, 1.4.1% v/w for stem, stem wood and stem bark respectively. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of one hundred and twenty three constituents in the stem distillate with major constituents of solerone (7.27%), furfural (7.15%), catechol (7.11%), syringol (5.56%), allo-inositol (4.86%), mequinol (4.81%), furfuralcohol (3.35%), 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione (3.24%), phenol (2.73%), homovanillyl alcohol (2.56%) and 3-cresol (2.11%). the wood distillate show detection of eighty compounds, with main compounds: 1, 3-dimethyl-5-methoxypyrazol (10.61%), syringol (6.75%), furfuralcohol (5.24%), mequinol (4.49%), 1,2-anhydro-3,4,5,6-alloinositol (4.26%), 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione (3.42%), catechol (3.37%), 3-methoxycatechol (3.22%), homovanillyl alcohol (2.78%), homosyringic acid (2.40%), 3-cresol (2.18%), 3-methyl-2-cyclopentenone (2.44%) and 1,2-cyclopentanedione (2.03%). Sixty six compounds were detected in the distillate bark and the main compounds were found to be hexadecanoic (62.83%), catechol (3.38%), tetrapentacontane (3.18%), phenol (2.72%), mequinol (2.30%) and 2-ethylfurane (2.22%).Conclusion: The result concludes that the medicinal Sudanese Dokhan have good potential as sources of different bioactive compounds and antioxidants