CTT – Technologies – Extraction method of vitamin C from parsley

Extraction method of vitamin C from parsley

Authors: Manuela Stan, Loredana Soran, Ildikó Lung

Keywords: vitamin C, L-ascorbic acid, parsley, ultrasonication

Applications

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is a plant with many nutritional and palliative qualities. It is four times richer in vitamin C than an orange, contains more proteins than two eggs and a significant amount of iron, well assimilated by the organism due to the presence of vitamin C.

Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is essential for body health and it is widely used in the food industry, in cosmetics, dermatology, as well as in the pharmaceutical industry.

Innovative aspects

Oxidation of vitamin C and the losses that occur during its processing are the main issues for nutritionists, processors and consumers.

For optimizing the extraction method of vitamin C from parsley, literature data were reviewed, and microwave extraction, centrifugal extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction using different solvent combinations were selected for further testing.

In this case, the method chosen for extraction was ultrasound-assisted extraction, and has been optimized to obtain a parsley extract with the maximum amount of vitamin C from the processed plant material.

Technology

Acetic acid solution is used in the preparation of vitamin C extract from parsley. The ultrasonic process takes 30 minutes.

Quality confirmation of extracts can be quickly achieved by spectrophotometric analysis of the extract at 243 nm. If vitamin C occurs in mixture with other substances, the chromatographic method may be also used.

Advantages