Fatty Acid Profile of Roots and Aerial Parts of Ruscus hyrcanus Woronow

Ruscus specie are used as traditional medicine, food, and foliage. The aim of this work is the determination of fatty acid composition of Ruscus hyrcanus as a native medicinal plant of Iran for the first time together with comparison of different esterification methods. Two different esterification methods were used for preparation of esterified fatty acids from different extracts of underground and aerial parts of the herb. GC/MS analysis were used for identification and quantification of fatty acids. Finally, the results were compared. Findings showed that R. hyrcanus is rich in essential fatty acids such as linoleic acid (13-25%) and linolenic acid (23-44%). Also, oil samples contain remarkable amount of palmitic acid (19-57%). The results showed that R. hyrcanus could be considered as a source of essential fatty acids. Also, it could be concluded that a simple esterification method with methanolic KOH and 2 min vortex is suitable for fatty acid analysis of Ruscus species.