Caracterização do óleo de tucumã por RMN-DT

Abstract

The tucuman fruit is found in the Amazon region, and whose epicarp-mesocarp has an oil rich in oleic acid. The endosperm has a high content of lauric and myristic acids and can render a vegetable fat with attractive properties to the food and cosmetic industries. The tucuman pulp is a product with a high demand in the Northern Region of Brazil. However, the available methodologies have several drawbacks when one considers the time and the specialized worker needed to carry on these kinds of analyses. Therefore, the TD-NMR technique is presented as a rapid, low-cost, relatively simple technique for the quantification of the tucuman pulp vegetable oil. The merit figures of the analytical method developed in this work were in accordance with what is required from an analytical method to be considered able to quantify this kind of material. The relative quantities of fatty acids were determined, and the results found were: 2,5% for ω-3; 91,5% for ω-9; and 7,3% for saturated fatty acids. As the merit figures determined for the present method were appropriate, the lipid content was determined for the dried Tucuman pulp and the result found Is the following: (62,8 ± 2,4)%.