Influence of Solvent Used for Extraction on Tocopherols Content of Tomato Seed Oil

Abstract

One potential possibility of utilizing tomato seeds is oil production. This research investigated the tocopherol content of tomato oil extracted from seeds (Soxhlet extraction method) with different organic solvents (petroleum ether, diethyl ether, n-hexane). Seed from tomatoes cultivated in Timiș County, Romania were used as raw material. γ-tocopherol was the dominant antioxidant compound detected, followed by relatively small amounts of α-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol; β-tocopherol was not detected in the extracted oil from tomato seeds. α-tocopherol content ranged from 1.6 mg/100g to 3.0 mg/100g, γ-tocopherol content varied between 65.8-112.3 mg/100g and δ-tocopherol content ranged from 0.4 mg/100g to 1.8 mg/100g. The highest amount of tocopherols was registered in the case of tomato seed oil obtained by using diethyl ether for extraction (115.5 mg/100g), followed by tomato seed oil obtained by using petroleum ether for extraction (107.6 mg/100g), respectively tomato seed oil obtained by using hexane for extraction (67.9 mg/100g) (P<0.05). In this research it was demonstrated that the organic solvent used for extraction of tomato seed oil has an influence on the total content of tocopherols. Tocopherol content of tomato seed oil increased with increasing polarity of the solvent, which was expected, since tocopherol contains a free hydroxyl group.