Fatty Acid Composition and Antioxidant Potential of Ten Cephalaria Species

This paper focused on the assessment of fatty acid composition and antioxidant properties of ten Cephalaria (C. aytachii, C. taurica, C. tuteliana, C. procera, C. speciosa, C. tchihatchewii, C. hirsuta, C. elazigensis var. elazigensis, C. anatolica and C. aristata) species. The principal fatty acids in all species were oleic acid (10.28-31.65%), linoleic acid (17.81-37.67%) and palmitic acid (10.54-23.81%). Linolenic acid was also the most abundant fatty acid component in C. tuteliana (24.42%) and in C. speciosa (36.65%). In vitro antioxidant capacity of the hexane extracts of ten Cephalaria species was investigated by CUPRAC and DPPH methods. Total phenolic content of hexane extracts was also examined. The results showed that all species of Cephalaria have antioxidant properties with the highest trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (1.005 +/- 0.13 mmol trolox equivalent per gram extact) in C. aristata and the highest radical scavenging activity (IC50 value 3.768 +/- 0.67 mg/mL) in C. tchihatchewii. It was found that reducing power of C. aristata and radical scavenging potential of C. tchihatchewii were mainly due to highest phenolic contents of these species (2.907 +/- 0.146 and 3.037 +/- 0.156 mg gallic acid equivalent per gram extract, respectively). These findings suggest that the Cephalaria species might be used as a potential source of unsaturated fatty acids as well as phenolic constituents possessing antioxidant activity in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.