Physicochemical Indices Of A Medicinal Plant Oil: Linum Usitatissimum

The present work is a contribution to the determination of some physicochemical indices of oil obtained from a medicinal plant which is widely known in the Maghreb countries: linum usitatissimum or flax. The oil was extracted from the seeds of this plant by the Soxhlet method which gave an average yield of 35.08%. The physicochemical profile of this oil gave the following indices values: (1.4775), (1.5 % and 2.99%) (8.3 meq O2 / kg), (159.0435 mg KOH / g of oil) respectively to the refraction index, acid index and acidity, peroxide index and saponification index. The iodine index, determined by a physical assay (reverse assay), gave the value of 4% at a concentration of 8.18x10-2g/ml.