Mineral, amino acid and fatty acid evaluations of Myristica fragrans seeds extracts

The mineral elements, amino acid constituents and fatty acids present in Myristica fragrans seeds extracts were identified and quantified using atomic absorption spectrometry and flame photometry, Technicon sequential multi-sample amino acid analyzer (TSM) and Shimadzu GC-MS machine respectively. Six hundred grams of powdered seeds were extracted in methanol and n-hexane (2:1 v/v) using a rotary evaporator. Calcium, magnesium, and iron were the most abundant in methanol extract with concentrations of 3.21 +/- 0.05 part per million (ppm), 3.00 +/- 0.05 ppm, and 1.00 +/- 0.02 ppm respectively. The major essential amino acids in the seed were leucine 6.24 g/100 g, valine 3.72 g/100 g, and threonine 3.50 g/100 g while the non-essential amino acids were glutamate 10.6 g/100 g, aspartate 7.60 g/100 g, and arginine 5.50 g/100 g. The major biological compounds in the methanol extract as revealed by the GC-MS analysis were 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (RT: 20.768, 27.13%), Cyclododecyne (RT: 26.458, 19.33%) and octadecanoic acid (RT: 14.360, 12.24%) while the hexane extract constituents were margarinic acid (RT: 14.746, 27.04%), oleic acid (RT: 20.947, 18.96%) and 9,12-octadecadien-1-ol (RT: 26.523%, 15.10%). These compounds have shown nutritional, pharmacological, and medicinal importance in different studies. (C) 2020 African Institute of Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative. Published by Elsevier B.V.