Caracterização do perfil em ácidos graxos do óleo de palmeiras encontradas no Estado de Roraima

Abstract

Palm trees belong to the Arecaceae family and are mainly distributed in tropical regions. The Amazon rainforest is composed by a variety of species. For the communities that live in this region the palm trees offer several products because almost all parts of the plant are used for different purposes: food, construction, landscaping, handicrafts, etc. In this paper the oils from the fruits of seven different species of palm trees found in the state of Roraima were analysed: (Astrocaryum gynacanthum, Geonoma deversa, Oenocarpus bataua, Astrocaryum aculeatum, Oenocarpus bacaba, Euterpe oleracea, Orbignya phalerata) and one specie collected in the National Reserve Adolpho Ducke (Iriartella setigera). The fruits were collected in different regions of the state of Roraima and split into epicarp, pulp and almond in the laboratory and their parts were extracted through solvent. The oils obtained were analyzed by TLC, GC-MS and GC-FID. The average content of oil in the epicarp pulp and varied from 4.33% to 52.61%, and the highest percentage was noticed in the pulp of tucumã while the variation in the almonds was 0.98% and 63.79%, the highest percentage of oil was detected in almond babaçu. The oils of the pulps are mainly unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid as the major component, whereas oils of almonds are mainly saturated fatty acids, lauric acid being the predominant component. Only in patauá and bacaba the oils from the pulp and almond had the same composition. There are few studies of palm trees in the state of Roraima, as well, a few chemical data related to palms fruits ubim, mumbaca, paxiubinha and indicating the need for further studies about this family.