CTT – Technologies – Method for extraction of the polyphenols from basil

Method for extraction of the polyphenols from basil

Authors: Ildikó Lung, Loredana Soran, Manuela Stan

Keywords: basil, Ocimum basilicum, polyphenols, ultrasounds

Applications

The consumption of phytotherapeutic products, especially those with a high content of polyphenolic compounds, is correlated with a series of beneficial effects in the body, such as reducing the risk of diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease, colon cancer and gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a plant rich in polyphenolic compounds, recognized for its antibacterial, antioxidant and antiseptic properties.

Applications of basil extract are of high importance in herbal medicine and the food industry.

Innovative aspects

In plants, polyphenols are found as mixtures of compounds with very different chemical structures. Therefore, their extraction from plant material with maximum yield and in the shortest possible time poses particular problems.

The most commonly used techniques are the classical ones (maceration, reflux extraction, Soxhlet extraction). Because of their disadvantages, they tend to be replaced by techniques with lower consumption of reagents, energy and time, but with similar efficiency.

The method developed by us is based on ultrasound assisted extraction and has been optimized to obtain a basil extract with the maximum amount of polyphenols from the processed plant material.

Technology

Ethyl alcohol and ultrapure water are used to prepare the basil polyphenolic extract. The extraction takes place by sonication for 30 minutes. Confirmation of the quality of the extracts (determination of the total amount of polyphenols) can be quickly achieved by spectrophotometric analysis of the extracts in relation to caffeic acid, rutin or quercetin, at characteristic wavelengths.

The chromatographic method can also be used if a particular component is sought in the polyphenol mixture obtained.

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