Mappia foetida seed oil: A rich source of oil and moderate source of novel 3-keto-octadec-cis-15-enoic acid and its possible industrial utilization

Mappia foetida is a medium-sized tree, which belongs to Olacaceae plant family. It is found to contain 16.0% of 3-keto-octadec-cis-15-enoic acid previously hitherto unknown in the Olacaceae plant family. It also contains other normal fatty acids such as palmitic acid (12.3%), stearic acid (4.2%), oleic acid (16.2%), linoleic acid (11.6%) and linolenic acid (39.7%). The identification and characterization was based on UV, FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS, GLC analysis and Chemical degradations.