Indonesia is a country which has a rich variety of plants that could be utilized.

Rambutan is one of the plants that are abundant in Indonesia. Rambutan (Nephelium
lappaceum L) is a native plant of Indonesia and Malaysia. Rambutan is mostly
cultivated for its fruits. So far, its seeds are not commonly used nor they have any
commercial value. Rambutan seed itself contains fat and polyphenol, and the oil
contains many benefits that it is commonly used to counterfeit olive oil.
Oil authenticity is an important matter, especially in regards to oil quality.
Counterfeit might cause a loss for the consumers, for example a mix of high-priced
oil like olive oil with other oil or matter might cause unwanted reaction when
consumed. Oil quality control in attempt to prevent counterfeit can be done via a
string of oil characterization and authentication test. The characterization can be done
using acid value, saponification value, iodine value, peroxide value.
RSF (Rambutan seed fat) was obtained by maceration of rambutan powder
seed using methanol to get methanolic extract. The methanol contained in extract was
evaporated using vacuum rotary evaporator. The extract was added with warm
aquadest and then partitioned using petroleum benzene, dicloromethane, etyl acetat to
get RSF. Rambutan seed fat from all samples prossessing a dark yellow color. The
highest total yield was owned by RSF ace 17,65 % and then RSF Binjai 16,10 %. The
iodine value indicate the unsaturation degree of fats and oil (Lusas et al., 2012). The
slightly higher iodine value of RSF Ace gives the indication that RSF Ace contains
more unsaturated fatty acid than MAB and MAP. Generally, these results are
consistens with literature which states the number of iodine for rambutan seed fat was
range in 65-95 (Firestone, 2013).
Acid value represents the free fatty acids present in fats and oils. The lower
acid value, the better quality of oil. Since RSF Ace has lower acid value than RSF
Binjai, it indicated that the quality of RSF Ace was better than RSF Binjai. The
highest acid value of RSF Binjai maybe related with degree of oxidation in
preparation or storage. Saponification value can be used to estimate the molecular
weight of fatty acids composed of AO. This value is inversely proportional to the
mean molecular weight of the glycerides in the oil. RSF Binjai has the lowest
saponification value. But, RSF Binjai and RSF Ace that has a saponification number
that corresponds to the range of saponification of avocado oil in Firestone (2013),
170-198. The peroxide index is the most common parameter used to characterize oils
and fats, The number of peroxides present in vegetable oils reflects its oxidative level
and thus its tendency to become rancid. The peroxide values of RSF Binjai relatively
high, indicating that the samples unstable against oxidation.
Analysis of fatty acid using GC-FID showed all oils had high amounts of total
saturated fatty acid, RSF Ace (50.612%) and RSF Binjai (60.243%). Authentication
analysis of EVOO from RSF using FTIR spectroscopy was carried out by
quantification of RSF in EVOO and classification of EVOO and EVOO mixed with
RSF. The results showed that normal FTIR spectra at wavenumbers region of 1446.8-
1409.7 and 2368.6-1769.9 cm-1 for RSF Ace, 1715-1705 cm-1 and 2945.45-2872.4
cm-1 for RSF Binjai combined with multivariate calibration of principle component
regression offered the best quantitative model for prediction of RSF levels in EVOO
with high R2 value and lower RMSEC and RMSEP value.
Rambutan seed contains fat and polyphenol. Issara et al. (2014) reported that the fatty
acid composition of rambutan seed oil consists of asam palmitat (7,39-10,33%), asam
stearat (12,21-16,58%), asam arakhidat (12,34-16,22%), asam behenat sebagai lemak
jenuh (6,53-8,91%), asam oleat sebagai lemak tak jenuh (50,17-52,18%), serta asam
linoleat sebagai lemak tak jenuh ganda (2,02-3,04%).
Oil authentication techniques keep developing to achieve a simple and fast technique.
Some of the commonly used analyses for oil characterization and authentication are
kromatografi gas dan spektrometri massa (Ruiz-Samblás dkk., 2010), spektroskopi
1 13
H-NMR (H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) dan C-NMR (García-González dkk.,
2004), electronic sensing, spektroskopi inframerah based method and wet chemical.
A fast, effective, and environmentally friendly method keeps being developed by
researchers to authenticate high valued fat and oil. Infrared spektroskopi is a
promising technique for that objective. Additionally, vegetable oil authentication
using FTIR spektroskopi is considered green analytical technique as this technique
could minimize the use of chemical reagent.
Therefore, this study aims to characterize rambutan seed oil via penentuan konstanta
physics-chemical, serta menguji keaslian MBR dengan metode spektroskopi FTIR
(Fourier Transform Infrared) dikombinasikan dengan kemometrika kalibrasi
multivariat.