An alternative green separation process for the pure isolation of commercially important bioactive molecules from plants

Abstract

The present work briefs the extraction of different kinds of nutraceutical plant molecules from different plants for the first time by using the remarkable extraction ability of a safe, “green” solvent: alkaline sucrose. The developed process was initially applied to isolate β,β-dimethylacryl shikonin (BDMS) and ursolic acid (UA) from Arnebia nobilis and Cotoneaster buxifolia, respectively. The extractive efficiency was determined by HPLC-DAD analysis. The versatility of the alkaline sucrose as extractive solvent was later confirmed by isolating four more different molecules from their respective plant matrices with significant recovery and purity. Further optimization by Box-Behnken experimental design model yielded a maximized amount of BDMS (18.2 mg/g of DM) and UA (2.2 mg/g of DM) with a high correlation coefficient (0.98–0.99), demonstrating a good fit between the regression model (second order) and the experimental results. The final purity of compounds through optimized process was greater than 90% (e.g. BDMS: 93%, UA: 96%, etc.). The optimized yields signify remarkable increase in final yield of compounds (e.g. BDMS: 152%, UA: 200%, etc.) than conventional solvent-based plant compound extraction, thus making the developed process a benign, green route for rapid isolation of plant compounds.

Keywords

• alkaline sucrose
• box-behnken
• nutraceuticals
• plant molecule separation
• process development