Essential oil and fatty acid composition of the fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides L. (Sea Buckthorn) and Myrtus communis L. from Turkey

The composition of the volatile oil isolated from Hippophae rhamnoides L. fruits was analysed by GC and GC-MS, and thirty constituents were identified, representing 94.6% of the oil. The major components were ethyl dodecenoate (39.4%), ethyl octanoate (9.9%), decanol (5.6%), ethyl decanoate (5.5%) and ethyl dodecanoate (3.7%). The composition of fatty acids in the lipid extracts obtained from the mesocarps and seeds of H. rhamnoides and Myrtus communis L. fruits were also investigated by GC. Fifteen different fatty acids were determined. Palmitoleic acid (47.8%) and palmitic acid (29.3%) were the major fatty acids in the mesocarp of H. rhamnoides fruits; oleic acid (32.8%), palmitic acid (26.3%) and linoleic acid (21.7%) were the major fatty acids in the seeds. Likewise, in the mesocarps and seeds of M. communis L., oleic acid was the predominant fatty acid with proportions up to 72.1 and 64.1%, respectively. In addition, free fatty acid composition of the lipids extracted from the seeds of M. communis was analysed by GC and oleic (69.5%), palmitic (17.8%) and stearic (6.4%) acids were found as the main fatty acids. In all extracts, the quantities of unsaturated fatty acids were higher than that of saturated analogue. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.