Physicochemical characterization, fatty acid profile, FT-IR and oxidative stability analyzes of Caryocar brasiliense oil

Caryocar brasiliense (pequi) is a typical fruit of the Cerrado, from its pulp can be extracted an oil consisting mainly of fatty acids (FA) and carotenoids, which make it a promising raw-material for the pharmaceutical industry. The objective of this work was to evaluate the oxidative stability index (OSI) and the quality of pequi oil. The raw-material was characterized in terms of OSI and acidity, peroxide and saponification indices. FA contents were determined by Gas Chromatography(GC) and FT-IR analysis was performed on spectrophotometer with ATR cell. For this oil, oxidative stability, acidity, peroxide and saponification indices were 15.49h, 5.25KOH/g, 9.60meq/kg and 189.89mgKOH/g, respectively. The GC of the oil revealed the presence of oleic(38.82%), palmitic(37.60%), linoleic(19.40%), palmitoleic(0.69%) and stearic(3.07%) acids. In FT-IR bands were obtained at 1743cm-1 corresponding to the FA carbonyls present in the sample. Therefore, the results found are promising for the insertion of this oil in pharmaceutical formulations.