Occurrence of α-Eleostearic Acid in Parinarium excelsum and Parinarium macrophyllum Seed Oils

Abstract

The seeds of Parinarium excelsum and P. macrophyllum (Rosaceae or Chrysobalanaceae) yield about 65-66% of oil. 13C NMR and gas chromatographic analyses show that these two oils have a high content in α-eleostearic acid, about 62% for P. excelsum and 33% for P. macrophyllum. These results indicate that α-eleosteatic acid can be used as chemotaxonomic tracer and are in agreement, from a chemical point of view, with authors which consider that Chrysobalanaceae constitute a family different from Rosaceae.