Profiling of the lipophilic components of seed oil obtained from two medicinal plants Corchorus capsularis L. and Hibiscus sabdariffa L.

The minor lipophilic composition of seed oils obtained from two medicinal plants (C. capsularis and H. sabdariffa L.), tocopherol, tocotrienols, sterols, carotenoids and squalene, was studied. The oil yield from the seeds of H. sabdariffa and C. capsularis was 19.1 and 12.7%, respectively. The main three fatty acids of the oils from both species were – linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acid (over 95% of all). γ-Tocopherol consisted of over 65% of total tocopherol content of four detected homologues, in both species. Nine and ten sterols were detected in H. sabdariffa and C. capsularis seed oil, respectively. β-Sitosterol was the main sterol (over 50% of all). Lutein was the main carotenoid detected in both species. The total amount of tocopherols, carotenoids and sterols in C. capsularis vs. H. sabdariffa seed oil were 117.2 vs. 159.2, 0.27 vs. 0.74, and 247.1 vs. 968.0 mg/100 g oil, respectively.