Determination of Tocopherols and Fatty Acids in Seeds of

  Background: The dried fruits of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn (Compositae) contain silymarin, an isomeric mixture of flavonolignans. Silymarin acts as a strong anti -hepatotoxic. This fruits contains a high amount of oil .  Objective: The objective of this study was to determine total lipid content, fatty acid composition and content of different kind of tocopherols in seed oils of S. marianum.   Method: Fatty acid compositon and a -, γ- and δ-tocopherol (vitamin E) content from seeds of Silybum maianum were investigated by gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography methods. Results and Conclusion: Total lipid percentage was approximately 25% and nine fatty acids including palmitic acid (8.25 %), palmeotic acid (0.07 %), Stearic acid (6.67 %), oleic acid (31.58 %), Isomer oleic acid (0.53 %), linoleic acid (45.36 %), linolenic acid (0.87 %), arashidic acid (4.11 %), eicozantoic acid (0.088 %) and behenic acid (2.6 %) were determined. a -, γ- and δ -tocopherol content were around 563.157, 88.87 and 163.791 mg Kg -1 DW respectively that could be a natural good sources of antioxidant.