Characteristics, chemical composition and utilisation of Albizia julibrissin seed oil

Abstract

The physicochemical characteristics, fatty acid and triacylglycerol compositions, DSC profile and UV/vis spectrum of oil extracted from Albizia julibrissin seeds were determined in this study. The oil content and the moisture of the seeds were 10.50% and 1.56%. The free fatty acid, the peroxide value, the p-anisidine value, the saponification value, the iodine value were 2.54%, 6.61mequiv. O2/kg of oil, 1.98, 190.63 (mg KOH/g) and 111.33 (g/100g of oil), respectively. The specific extinction coefficients K232, K268 were 7.55 and 0.96, respectively. Linoleic acid (C18:2, 58.58%), palmitic acid (C16, 13.86%) and oleic acid (C18:1, 10.47%) were the dominant fatty acids in the A. julibrissin seed oil. LLL (36.87%), OLL (21.62%), PLL (16.69%) and PLO+SLL (8.59%) were the abundant triacylglycerol representing>83% of the seed oil (L: linoleic, O: oleic, P: palmitic, S: stearic). The DSC melting curves reveal that: melting point=-14.70°C and melting enthalpy=54.34J/g. A. julibrissin seed oil showed some absorbance in the UV-B and UV-C ranges. The results of the present analytical study show that A. julibrissin is a promising oilseed crop, which can be used for making soap, hair shampoo and UV protectors. Furthermore, the high level of unsaturated fatty acids makes it desirable in terms of nutrition. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.