FATTY ACID CONSTITUENTS FROM THE LEAVES OF AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS L.

Mohammed Ali*, Sumitra Singh Dahiya, Shahnaz Sultana and Kavita Munjal

ABSTRACT

Amaranthus hybridus L. (family Amaranthaceae) is an annual, erect herb used to treat intestinal bleeding, diarrhoea, jaundice, excessive menstruation, scorpion sting, snake bites, swelling and mouth and throat ulcers. The leaves are eaten as a green vegetable and to prepare a soup. Our study was planned to isolate chemical constituents from a methanolic extract of the leaves of A. hybridus and to characterize their structures on the basis spectral data analysis. Phytochemical investigation of the leaves led to isolate three higher fatty acids characterized as (Z)-docos-11-enoic acid (cetoleic acid, 1), n-tetracosanoic acid (lignoceric acid, 2) and n-dotriacontanoic acid (lacceroic acid, 3) and five fatty acid esters identified as 8′β-hydroxynonadecanyl caprate (8′β-hydroxynonadecanyl decanoate, 4), tricosanyl palmitate (5), n-tricosanyl linoleate (6), n-tricosanyl n-octadec-9-en-1-oate (n-tricosanyl oleate, 7) and n-pentacosanyl n-octadec-9-en-1-oate (n-pentacosanyl oleate, 8).

Keywords: Amaranthus hybridus L., leaves, phytoconstituents, isolation, spectral data analysis, structure characterization.