DIHYDROSTERCULIC ACID, A MAJOR FATTY ACID COMPONENT OF EUPHORIA LONGANA SEED OIL

The seed oil of Euphoria longana, Sapindaceae, contains 17.4% of 9,10-methyleneoctadecanoic (dihydrosterculic) acid. This identification is based on information from thin layer chromatography, infrared analysis, gas liquid chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy. Since GLC of the oil showed components that emerged between the usual triglycerides, the cyclopropanoid acid is apparently a triglyceride constituent. The presence of smaller amounts, less than 1%, of cyclopropanoid fatty acids of different chain lengths is indicated by GLC and TLC analyses of the methyl esters. The other major fatty acids in this oil are: 16:0 (19%), 18:0 (7%), 18:1 (36%), 18:2 (6%), 18:3 (5%) and 20:0 (4%). Euphoria oil contains considerably larger amounts of cyclopropanoid fatty acids than previously reported in other seed oils. © 1969 American Oil Chemists' Society.