n-Alkanes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) seed oil: the cultivar effect

Three cultivars of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv ‘Principe Borghese’, ‘RebelionF1’ and ‘San Marzano’) were separately grown in three greenhouses in Southern Italyto investigate the n-alkane (saturated linear hydrocarbons) composition of the tomatoseed oil (TSO). The oil was obtained by Soxhlet-petroleum ether extraction. OnewayANOVA and principal component analysis were applied to differentiate the threecultivars. 14 components were identified. Tomato seed oil contained mainly odd-chaincarbon number n-alkanes (79.09% - 89.35%), and among them, n-C25, n-C21 andn-C23 were prevalent in all cultivars. The Σ odd chain carbon number / Σ even chaincarbon number ratio was 8.39 in ‘Principe Borghese’, 3.78 in ‘Rebelion F1’ and 7.60in ‘San Marzano’. Relevant differences in the quantitative composition were observedamong the oils ‘San Marzano’ contained the lowest n-alkane quantity (100.67 mg/kg)whereas ‘Principe Borghese’ contained 347.33 mg/kg.