IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND BIO-METALS OF PTEROCARPUS MILDBRAEDII DRIED SEED POWDER AND OIL

Ezenwali, Moses Obinna*

The seeds of Pterocarpus mildbraediiis are uncommon among many users of its leaves as vegetable in the preparation of Oha soup. This research work was carried out to ascertain the qualitative phytochemicals, minerals and fatty acid composition of P. mildbraedii seed oil. Qualitative phytochemical screening and mineral analysis were carried out on P. mildbraedii dried seed powder using standard procedures and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) respectively. The oil was extracted using cool maceration method and n-Hexane as solvent. This was further subjected to characterization and, identification and quantification of its fatty acid profiling using GC-MS analysis. The result from extraction procedure indicates that n-hexane gave a relatively high percentage yield of 016.036 ± 0.160 (%w/w). Our observation on qualitative phytochemical profiling reveals a distinct partitioning of phytoconstituents between the extracted oil and the dried seed powder, reflecting the differential solubility of compounds in lipophilic and hydrophilic matrices. The extracted oil primarily contains non-polar lipophilic constituents, whereas the seed powder retains polar primary and secondary metabolites, including ketose functional groups and free amino acids. Mineral analysis showed the mineral concentrations in the following decreasing order; potassium (19.180 ± 0.100 ppm). sodium (0.880 ± 0.001 ppm), calcium (0.558 ± 0.091 ppm), iron (0.376 ± 0.106 ppm), magnesium (0.193 ± 0.005 ppm), copper (0.014 ± 0.111 ppm), selenium (0.022 ± 0.021 ppm) and zinc (0.020 ± 0.004 ppm). However, only manganese is beyond dictation limits. Our findings indicate a relatively high value of saponification value, percentage glycerine and ester values, but remarkably low levels of iodine, free fatty acid and acid values in comparison with soya beans oil. Our observations from Gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometric analysis of methylated P. mildbraedii seed oil indicates that it contains a complex mixture of fatty acid methyl esters, long-chain alcohols, diterpenes, hydrocarbons, and other phytochemicals. These compounds suggest that the seeds oil possesses both nutritional and pharmacological potential, making it a candidate for food, cosmetic, and therapeutic applications.