African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (20), pp. 1890-1893, 16 October 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Volatile constituents from Samanae saman (Jacq.) Merr. Fabaceae

Isiaka A. Ogunwande1a*, Tameka M. Walker2, William N. Setzer2 and Emmanuel Essien3

1Laboratory of Food Biotechnology, Division of Bioresources and Bioenvironmental

Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School of Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka-shi, 812-8581, Japan.

2Department of Chemistry, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville AL 35899,

USA.

3Department of Chemistry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: oilresearchgroup@yahoo.ca.

Permanent address: P. O. Box 22613, University of Ibadan Post Office, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Accepted 25 September, 2006

In this work, we report on the constituents identified from the fruits volatile oil of Samanae saman (Jacq.) Merr., Fabaceae. The volatile oil was obtained by hydrodistillation in an all glass Clevenger-type apparatus. The oil content was 0.23% (w/w), on a dry weight basis. The oil was analyzed by GC-MS. Altogether, 32 compounds were identified accounting for 99.7% of the total oil content. Fatty acids comprised 69.1% of the oil content; with palmitic acid (55.6%) being the most singly abundant constituent. 1,8-Cineole (15.9%) was the quantitatively significant constituent of the terpenoids.

Key words: Samanae saman, Fabaceae, volatile oil, fatty acids, terpenoids, palmitic acid, 1,8-cineole.