Ximenia americana: Chemical and Spectral Studies of Extracts of Seeds. Analysis of Trimethylsilyl Derivatives by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry

Among the numerous botanical species found in the Brazilian plant biome, Ximenia americana is widespread in the Northeast of Brazil, especially in the state of Ceará, where it is known as bush plum. Its bark, leaves and roots are used in popular medicine for the treatment of skin infections, hemorrhoids, stomach ulcers, gastric pain, among others. In this work, hexane and ethanolic extracts of X. americana seeds were subjected to silylation reactions followed by analysis of the silylated derivatives by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In the hexane extract, 18 substances were identified, where the most abundant and most important components were the Octadec-9-enoic (38.14%), (9Z,12Z)-Octadec-9,12-dienoic (18.83%), Ethanedioic (8.21%) and (Z,Z,Z)-9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic (7.22%) acids. From the ethanol extract 18 substances were also identified having D-Sucrose (29.36%), L-Sorbose (9.19%), syllo-Inositol (8.34%) and D-Glucose (7.45%) as the main components. In addition, the presence of a steroid in hexane extract and triterpenes in ethanol extract was recorded. The constituents were identified using chromatographic and spectrometric methods, especially gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. To our knowledge, this is the first study of this nature from the oil of the X. american seeds.