Retama sphaerocarpa: An unexploited and rich source of alkaloids, unsaturated fatty acids and other valuable phytochemicals

• The lipophilic fraction of the shrub Retama sphaerocarpa has been studied by GC–MS for the first time.
• R. sphaeerocarpa stems and grains present a high content in valuable phytochemicals.
• The alkaloids cytisine and retamine were among the most abundant compounds identified.
• Fatty acids, in particular unsaturated fatty acids, are the major family of components detected in both stems and grains from R. sphaerocarpa.
• Octadec-9-enoic, octadeca-9,12-dienoic and octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acids are the most abundant compounds.
• Considerable amounts of sterols were found in R. sphaerocarpa.

The chemical composition of the lipophilic extracts of the stems and grains of the shrub Retama sphaerocarpa was investigated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the first time. Fatty acids is the major family of compounds in both morphological parts, representing between 37.1 and 85.1% of the total compounds detected, followed by sterols in stems and monoglycerides in grains. Considerable amounts of the alkaloids retamine (9.6 g kg−1 of dry material) and cytisine (0.6 g kg−1 of dry material) were also found in stems and grains, respectively. Before alkaline hydrolysis octadec-9-enoic (0.7–2.4 g kg−1 of dry material), octadeca-9,12-dienoic (1.5–2.9 g kg−1 of dry material) and hexadecanoic (1.1–2.0 g kg−1 of dry material) acids are the most abundant lipophilic components in both morphological parts. After alkaline hydrolysis the contents of octade-9-enoic, octadeca-9,12-dienoic and octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic acids detected increased considerably ranging from 1.9 to 22.4, 3.6 to 40.1 and 0 to 8.6 g kg−1 of dry material, respectively. Smaller amounts of long-chain aliphatic alcohols, α-tocopherol and β-amyrin were also found. These data indicates that R. sphaerocarpa stems and grains are a potential source of valuable phytochemicals, with recognized nutritional and phytopharmaceutical applications.