QUANTIFICATION OF FATTY ACIDS AND EMULSION FORMULATION STUDIES OF OIL EXTRACTED FROM CASHEW (ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE LINN) NUTS

Abstract

Excipients developed from locally available materials are increasingly becoming significant. This is especially so
because they serve as alternatives/replacements to the already over exploited traditional sources of excipients. The
aim of this research was to extract, characterize and evaluate the self-emulsifying property of the oil from cashew nut
seed (CNO) using soxhlet, cold press and aqueous techniques. The physicochemical analysis of CNO was as
described by Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 2016) and include determination of moisture
content, specific gravity, refractive index, saponification value, acid value, iodine value and peroxide value, while
the quantitative analysis of the oleic acid content of CNO was determined using the High-Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC). Emulsions containing CNO were prepared in the presence and absence of an emulsifying
agent (Tween 80) at 5 % v/v concentration. The organoleptic properties, such as the pH, viscosity, creaming index,
globule sizes and emulsion type of the prepared emulsions were determined using standard protocol. Stability of the
prepared emulsions stored at 25 o C and 8 o C were also evaluated at predetermined time interval. These results
showed that the soxhlet method gave the highest oil content (39 %) than the cold press (32 %) and aqueous (15%)
methods of extraction. Quantitative analysis of the oil using HPLC showed that CNO contained 78.18 % of oleic
acid. Stability studies showed that the emulsions containing Tween 80 were homogenous and stable at 25 o C and 8 o
C after 24 h, day 30 and 6 months and their physicochemical properties were not significantly altered. On the other
hand, emulsions prepared without emulsifying agent were found to be stable after 24 h but pH, viscosities, creaming
indexes and globule sizes were observed to increase significantly by day 30. These increased indices were also found
not to differ significantly by 6 months. In conclusion, this study has been able to show that even though CNO
possess self-emulsifying property, it cannot be used to prepare stable emulsions on its own without the inclusion of
an emulsifying agent most especially for CNO emulsion that will not be use immediately (within 24 hrs).