Abstract
Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) and normal-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to analyse fatty acids and fat-soluble bioactives of the seeds of four
Datura species (
D. stramonium,
D. metel,
D. tatula,
D. innoxia) and two
Hyoscyamus species (
H. muticus,
H. niger). The amounts of
n-hexane extract were found to be between 5.50% and 12.6%. The major fatty acid was linoleic acid followed by oleic, palmitic and stearic acids. The crude
n-hexane extract was characterised by a relatively high amount of phytosterols, wherein the sterol markers were stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, lanosterol, Δ5-avenasterol and sitostanol. In all plant extracts γ-tocopherol was the major component present accounting for more than 80% of total tocopherols detected. When different extracts were compared for their radical scavenging activity (RSA) toward the stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical,
D. Innoxia exhibited a stronger RSA.