Gas Chromatography (GC) – Mass Spectrometry (MS) analysis of the isolated oil of <i>Tetracarpidium conophorum</i> (wallnut).Mull (Arg) root bark

Abstract

The root bark was collected fresh, washed with distilled water, air-dried under shade in the laboratory for four weeks and pulverized to a powdered form. Extraction was done in soxhlet extractor using hexane as a solvent. The crude extract was concentrated and partitioned with hexane and methanol (8:2).Vacuum liquid chromatography was adopted to separate the hexane fraction using solvent system of hexane; methanol (4:1). The yellow oil recovered was screened for phytochemicals and analyzed by GC-MS. Glycosides, phenolics and alkaloids were indicated in large amount; eugenols and terpenes were also present while saponin, tannins and steroid were absent. Major components detected by GC-MS were 2-Hydroxy hexadecanoic acid (Rt:17.59, 14.83%), a hydroxyl acid; 2-Hexenal (Rt:16.11, 12.36%), an unsaturated aldehyde ; Oxalic acid, allyl hexadecyl ester (Rt:17.38, 11.26%) a high molecular weight ester; Squalene (Rt:19.96, 8.97%) and alpha tocopherol (Rt:18.03, 7.14%) . The result indicated that the yellow oil constitute important phytochemcals like terpenes with the presence of squalene.

Keywords: Tetracarpidium conophorum (Wall nut) Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry, oil