Quantitative analysis of fatty acids in Prosopis laevigata flour

Abstract

Ripe mesquite pods are widely consumed by humans and animals in arid and semi-arid areas for their protein, carbohydrate, crude fiber and fat contents. The goal of this work is to identify and to quantify the fatty acid profile of flour from mesquite pods. Structural assignments were confirmed by the analysis of fragmentation patterns of mass spectra obtained by GC-MS. The results showed that 75% of the fatty acids were unsaturated, of which linoleic acid was predominant, while palmitic and stearic acids, and saturated fatty acids were found in minor proportions.

Keywords

• fatty acid
• linoleic acid
• mesquite
• prosopis