# _Sponias mombin_ Seed Oil Compounds Identification by Raman Spectroscopy and NMR
## 3 Results and Discussion
It has been demonstrated that antioxidant compounds are present in natural products such as vegetables, fruits, and oil seeds [44]. Several investigations have determined the antioxidant activity of carotenoids [45; 46], and it has been possible to state the carotenoid content as responsible for the antioxidant activity. On the other hand, it has been shown that there is a high carotenoid content in plants from the _Anacardiacae_ family [46; 47], such as Mexican plum (_Spondias purpurea_), ambarella (_Spondias dulcis_) and yellow mombin (_Spondias mombin_ L.). Chemical composition in these plants varies according to the season of the year, where it is harvested, state of maturation, etc. [48]. Some authors have shown antioxidant capacity for _Spondias mombin_ L. pulp under certain conditions [49; 50], and in this study we demonstrated a higher efficiency. _Spondias mombin_ L. seed oil had concentration-dependent antioxidant activity as shown in Figure 4a, with a maximum ABTS\(\bullet\) + radical inhibition of 45%. Our data showed a free radical scavenging effect in _Spondias mombin_ L. oil, suggesting a protective activity against alterations in oxidant/antioxidant imbalance, promoting an increase of cell viability in the presence of higher oil concentration. Previous reports support this finding; pomergnate seed oil demonstrated an antioxidant effect on a diabetes model in kidney, heart and mitochondria from rats and H9c2 cell line [51]. The antioxidant capacity has been highly correlated with cell viability. Several studies demonstrated that carotenoids promote a protective effect resulting in cell viability against different insults such as UV light [52; 53]. Other reports indicated that staffower seed oil increased significantly the viability and proliferation of embryonic neural stem cells [54]. Antioxidant compounds promote cell viability by several pathways. Some studies involved antioxidants in the maintenance of the genomic integrity (DNA) during proliferation stages [55]. Other reports have demonstrated that antioxidants prevent cells from oxidant-mediated cell death, through reducing membrane lipid peroxidation [56] and oxidative damage to cellular organelles [57]. The content of compounds in crude extracts depends on the extraction solvent used. In this case, we used hexane to extract mainly nonpolar molecules, including carotenoids and fatty acids, as it was demonstrated by the applied spectroscopy technics. In general, these compounds constitute only a few necessary sources of nutrients for cell proliferation, as cells mainly need carbohydrates. Indeed, different research groups report antiproliferative \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Chemical Shift (ppm)** & **Carbon** & **Assignment** \\ \hline
14.02 & \(\alpha\)-CH\({}_{3}\) & All acyl chains \\
22.54 & \(\beta\)-CH\({}_{3}\) & All acyl chains \\
24.82 & C-3 & All acyl chains \\
25.62 & C-11 & Diallylic \\
27.16 & C8-11 (oleyl), C8-14 (linoleyl) & Alyllic \\
29.07–29.68 & CH\({}_{2n}\) & All acyl chains \\
31.51 & C-16 & Linoleyl \\
34.01 & \(\alpha\)-C-2 & All acyl chains \\
34.17 & \(\beta\)-C-2 & All acyl chains \\
62.09 & \(\alpha\)-CH\({}_{2}\)O & Glycerol (triacylglycerglycerols) \\
68.91 & \(\beta\)-CHO & Glycerol (triacylglycerlycerols) \\
127.88 & C-12 & Linoleyl \\
128.06 & C-13 & Linoleyl \\
129.68 & C-9 & Oleyl \\
129.95 & C-9 & Linoleyl \\
129.98 & \(\alpha\)-C-10 & Oleyl \\
129.99 & \(\beta\)-C-10 & Oleyl \\
130.20 & C-10 & Linoleyl \\
172.79 & \(\alpha\)-C-1 Glycerol & Triacylglycerlecrols \\  & & 2 xC, oleoyl and linoleyl \\
173.25 and 173.21 & \(\beta\)-C-1 Glycerol & Triacylglycerlecrols \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Chemical shifts and assignments of the characteristic signals in the carbon nuclear magnetic response (\({}^{13}\)C-NMR) spectrum of crude seed oil. and apoptotic effects for oils extracted from plants evaluated on different cell lines [58; 59; 60]. As a result, the proposed molecular mechanism associated with increased cell viability has a cytoprotective effect.