Fatty Acid Composition of Alstonia Scholaris (Linn.) R. Br. Seed Oil Having Some Antibacterial Principles

Mita Dutta¹, Sukanta Sen² and Subrata Laskar³*

¹Department of Chemistry, S.B. College, Bagati, Magra - 712 148 India.

²Department of Botany, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal India.

³Natural Product Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Burdwan, Burdwan - 713 104 India.

Corresponding Author E-mail:pimidu@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: Fatty acid content of hexane extracted oil of mature seeds of Alstonia scholaris (Linn.) R.Br has been analyzed by GLC and its antibacterial property identified for the first time to determine the nutritional, pharmaceutical and industrial importance of the oil. Result Oil content of the seeds was found to be 239 gkg-1 (weight per kg of dry seeds). The oil contained four fatty acids accounting to 100% of total fatty acids. The unsaturated fatty acids identified were Oleic acid (65.66%) and Linoleic acid (12.15%), whereas saturated fatty acids were Palmitic acid (13.77%) and Stearic acid (8.42%). Moreover, the oil was found to show profound activity against Bacillus subtillis, Eschericia coli, Salmonella sp. and Bacillus sp. Conclusion: Seed oil of Alstonia scholaris contains four fatty acids. The presence of two unsaturated fatty acids, Oleic acid (C18:1 n-9) and Linoleic acid (C18:2 n-6) makes the oil important from nutritional point of view as well as for oil stability. High content of linoleic acid may render the oil interesting for cosmetic industry. The present study thus identifies the possibility of future domestication of the oil. Antibacterial assay establishes the antibacterial property of the oil. So the oil definitely has the potential to be used as medicine after toxicological studies. Further, all these informations can be used for taxonomic and evolutionary studies.

KEYWORDS: Fatty acid; seed oil; Alstonia scholaris; GLC; anti-bacterial activity.

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