Comparison of the concentrations of long-chain alcohols (policosanol) in three Tunisian peanut varieties (Arachis hypogaea L.).
Policosanol (PC) is a mixture of high molecular weight aliphatic primary alcohols. Literature about the contents and compositions of PC derived from peanut varieties is scarce. Total PC composition and content in whole peanut grain samples from three varieties of peanut (two cultivars, AraC and AraT, and a wild one, AraA) were identified using a gas chromatograph system coupled with a mass spectrophotometer. The results show that, qualitatively, 21 components of peanut aliphatic alcohols were identified (C14-C30). Besides (C18=), the results exhibited a previously unreported mixture of PC compositions in the peanuts: the unsaturated PC (UPC), which are (C20=), (C21=), (C22=), and (C24=). The main components of total PC in Tunisian peanut kernels are docosanol (C22), (Z)-octadec-9-en-1-ol (C18=), hexadecanol (C16), and octadecanol (C18). Quantitatively, the total PC content of the whole peanut samples varied from 11.18 to 54.19 mg/100 g of oil and was higher than those of beeswax and whole sugar cane, which are sources of dietary supplements containing policosanol.
Laboratoire de Biochimie, des Lipides et des Protéines, Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Tunis, 2092 El Manar, Tunisia.
Aicha O
AO
Cherif
Mhamed
M
Ben Messaouda
Belhassen
B
Kaabi
Sadok
S
Boukhchina
Claude
C
Pepe
Habib
H
Kallel
D010367:Arachis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D005233:Fatty Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014416:Tunisia
D005233:Fatty Alcohols; D010936:Plant Extracts; C080710:policosanol