The fresh rhizomes of Curcuma longa Linn. (Turmeric or Holud) collected from three different places of Bangladesh were investigated to extract oil, its fatty acid composition and its physico-chemical properties. The rhizomes contained 8.76 - 10.92% oil. The percentage compositions of fatty acids were identified and quantified by GLC. The saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents of three places were found to vary within 22.25 - 23.44% and 76.11 - 77.59%, respectively. Among identified six fatty acids, oleic acid contributed the highest proportion (56.24 - 58.88%), followed by myristic acid (16.25 - 17.71%); whilst, palmitic (5.59 - 6.00%), linoleic (10.90 - 12.82%), linolenic (4.15 - 5.46%) and ecosenoic acid (2.72 - 3.25%) together contributed the rest. Physico - chemical properties of the extracted oil were also investigated. The specific gravity, refractive index, optical rotation were recorded as 0.892 to 0.919 at 30°C, 1.431 to 1.465 at 30°C and +11.54° to +13.56° at 26°C, respectively. The chemical properties like saponification value (195.23 - 205.33), iodine value (75.53 - 90.47), peroxide value (23.25 - 36.16), acid value (11.08 - 11.32), ester value (56.30 - 64.13) and percentage of unsaponifiable matter (8.31 - 15.04%) were determined. Overall fresh Turmeric oil can be considered as a good source of oleic acid. Keywords: Curcuma longa; Fresh turmeric oil; Fatty acid composition; Oleic acid; Gas liquid chromatography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v46i1.8116 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 46(1), 127-132, 2011

Composition of fatty oil in two different varieties of banana peels Mausa Cavendis (sagar kola) and Mausa Sapientum (savrie kola) was determined. Percent fatty oil content was found as 7.5 in savrie and 10 in Sagar peels. Unsaponifiable matter, Iodine value, free fatty acid contents and Saponification value were also determined for both the samples. It was observed that the linoleate content (2.74) in sagar variety is slightly higher than savrie variety (2.41), but the palmitate contents were found as 12.55 and 13.86, stearate contents 2.62 and 4.57 in Sagar and Savrie variety respectively. Key words: Oil; Saponification value; Iodine value; Banana; Peel DOI: 10.3329/bjsir.v45i4.7387 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 45(4), 393-396, 2010

Essential oils from two types of Ocimum basilicum introduced in Bangladesh were analyzed by GC-MS. The major constituents found in the oil collected from Indian variety were methyl chavicol (78.2), citral (3.7%) and tau-cadinol (2.49%). Introduced variety from Thailand contains anisole, p-propenyl (93.99%) as major compound. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v48i3.17335 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 48(3), 217-220, 2013

Carum roxburghianum Benth. (Radhuni) seeds of three different places of Bangladesh were investigated to determine the fatty acid composition and physico-chemical properties of extracted oil. The seeds were found to contain oil ranging from 15.31 to 20.32%. The percentage compositions of fatty acids were identified and quantified by Gas Liquid Chromatography (GLC). The saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in extracts were 4.95 to 6.27% and 93.73 to 94.89%, respectively. Among six fatty acids identified in this study, oleic acid contributed the highest portion (76.44 to 79.16%), whereas, linoleic (1.38%), linolenic (15.28 - 15.40%), stearic (0.70%), palmitic (4.95 - 5.57%) and ecosenoic acid (0.51 - 15.73%) together contributed the rest. Physico-chemical properties of the oil extracted were also investigated. The specific gravity, refractive index, optical rotation were recorded as 0.903 to 0.918 at 30°C, 1.465 to 1.470 at 30°C and +8.54° to +9.56° at 26°C, respectively. The chemical properties like saponification value (183.52 - 193.45), iodine value (80.99 - 120.90), peroxide value (23.25 - 36.16), acid value (143.84 - 162.99), ester value (48.12 - 62.03), percentage of unsaponifiable matter (3.56 - 6.51%), Reicher-Meissel value (2.00 - 3.12), Polenske value (4.12 - 6.20) and Henher value (85.12 - 95.56) were determined. Overall Radhuni seeds oil can be considered as a good source of oleic acid. Keywords: Carum roxburghianum; Radhuni seed oil; fatty acid composition; oleic acid; Gas Liquid Chromatography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v46i1.8113 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 46(1), 111-116, 2011