Screening of bioactive lipids and radical scavenging potential of some solanaceae plants

Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) and normal-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used to analyse fatty acids and fat-soluble bioactives of the seeds of four Datura species (D. stramonium, D. metel, D. tatula, D. innoxia) and two Hyoscyamus species (H. muticus, H. niger). The amounts of n-hexane extract were found to be between 5.50% and 12.6%. The major fatty acid was linoleic acid followed by oleic, palmitic and stearic acids. The crude n-hexane extract was characterised by a relatively high amount of phytosterols, wherein the sterol markers were stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, lanosterol, Δ5-avenasterol and sitostanol. In all plant extracts γ-tocopherol was the major component present accounting for more than 80% of total tocopherols detected. When different extracts were compared for their radical scavenging activity (RSA) toward the stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, D. Innoxia exhibited a stronger RSA.