The study of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. herb fatty acid composition

Introduction. The Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad., which is also designated Bassia scoparia is a member of the Amaranthaceae Juss. family, native to Africa and Far East Asia. In Ukraine, Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. is grown as an ornamental plant. For its visual resemblance, it is often called the "summer cypress".According data literature, Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. contained triterpenoid saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, vitamins, fatty acids, volatile oil and trace elements. The fruit of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. is administered to treat skin diseases, diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine. Furthermore, it is frequently administered to treat urticaria in Taiwan. The pharmacological studies revealed that Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. possessed antibacterial, antiparasitic, anti-cancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, obesity preventive effects. The aim of the work was to study the qualitative composition and determine the quantitative content of fatty acids of herb of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. by gas chromatography. Materials and methods. For the experiment, air-dried, crushed herb of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. were used. Plant raw material was harvested in 2020-2021 in the Kharkiv region. The study of the qualitative composition and determination of the fatty acids quantitative content after methylation was performed by gas chromatography. Results and discussion. 11 fatty acids were identified in herb of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad and their quantitative content was determined by gas chromatography. At least four fatty acids are classified as unsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids dominated in herb of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad, forming 78,50 % of total content. Among unsaturated fatty acids linolenic acid (43,24 %) prevailed in herb of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad. In addition, Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad herb had a high content of linoleic acid that equaled 30,57 %. Among the saturated fatty acids in Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad herb, palmitic acid (14,78 %) was the major compound.  The results of the experiment showed that the content of lauric, arachidic, behenic and lignoceric acids in the studied types of plant raw material did not exceed 1%. Conclusions. The obtained results allow to deepen the knowledge about the fatty acid composition of the herbal drug of Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad., to establish the relationship between pharmacological action and the fatty acid composition of the raw materials, and will be used in the development of drugs based on it.