GC-MS Determination and Identification of Eleven Fatty Acids in Triglycerides Isolated from the Seeds of Traditional Kurdish Medicinal Plant Anchusa azurea Mill.

Anchusa azurea Mill. is naturally grown in Iraqi Kurdistan, and it belongs to the Boraginaceae family. The species A. azurea is eaten by Kurdish people and from a phytochemical point of view it has been almost neglected so far and it was thus considered worthy of study. In this investigation the lipids were extracted from seeds and leaves of A. azurea plant with petroleum ether, followed by chloroform and methanol using soxhlet apparatus. The lipid percentage from seeds and leaves were (7.03%) and (1.17%) respectively. Preliminary work on the first extract allowed for the isolation of a mixture of triglycerides, which were submitted to hydrolysis, followed by methylation of free fatty acids. GC-MS analysis showed that the main components were oleic, palmitic, palmitoleic, 11-eicosenoic, erucic and two ω-9 acids. Totally, eleven fatty acids were analyzed from the seeds of the studied plant using GC-MS analysis. The results showed that the plant seeds contain high percentage of elaidic acid (46.42%), palmitic acid (18.9%), linoleic acid (14.59%), and the other main fatty acids (FAs) are erucic acid (6.33%), 11-eicosenoic acid (5.02%), stearic acid (4.55%) and 6,9,12-octadecatrienoic acid (2.43%). The percentage of minor FAs is (0.78%) nervonic acid, (0.46%) myristic acid, (0.38%) palmitoleic acid and (0.14%) for 11-hexadecenoic acid. The total percentages of polyunsaturated (PUFAs), monounsaturated (MUFAs) and saturated fatty acids (SFAs) from the seeds of A. azurea are (17.02, 59.07, 23.91%) respectively. It was found that the percentage and type of fatty acid constituents from A. azurea seeds oil in the present study varied from the same plant in other places and countries