Food Engineering
Fatemeh Karani; Javad Sargolzaei
Abstract
Introduction: The Okra belongs to the family Malvaceae with the scientific name Abelmoschus esculentus (Peyvast, 2009). The viscous property of okra is due to the thick and viscous matter in the fruit pod, called mucilage. Okra mucilage is a polysaccharide currently used in pharmaceutical industry as ...
Read More
Introduction: The Okra belongs to the family Malvaceae with the scientific name Abelmoschus esculentus (Peyvast, 2009). The viscous property of okra is due to the thick and viscous matter in the fruit pod, called mucilage. Okra mucilage is a polysaccharide currently used in pharmaceutical industry as a hydrophilic polymer in tablet coatings (Bakre et al, 2009). Mucilage collectively contains polysaccharides, proteins, and minerals found in a plants or seeds that are more widely used in various industries, including food industry, as a stiffener in dairy products. Mucilage composed of monosaccharide polymers, amorphous and semi-transparent, and are hydrocolloids. These materials are hydrophilic molecules that can be extracted with water and form a concentrated or gel solutions. Gels are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical industries. The cultivation of okra in Iran is mainly occurred in tropical and subtropical regions and is found in Khuzestan, Ilam, Kermanshah, South Fars, Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces (Mozafarian, 2012). Many studies have been done on the extraction of okra mucilage and its applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Faroq et al. worked on the organoleptic properties of okra mucilage and concluded that okra mucilage has good flow properties and high solubility in water that can be used safely without any side effects (Farooq et al, 2013). ). Noorlaila et al studied the emulsifying property of mucilage extracted from okra (Noorlaila et al, 2014). Nazni and Vigneshwar studied the extraction and evaluation of organoleptic properties of mucilage from okra and several other plants and used ethanol and acetone to purify mucilage (Nazni et al, 2012). A study was conducted in 2018 to study the basic properties such as swelling index, emulsion stability, viscosity and antioxidant activity of okra mucilage (Fekadu Gememde et al, 2018). In a study on the use of okra mucilage in pharmacy, Ameena et al after extracting mucilage from okra and measured the physicochemical properties of mucilage, applied it in tablet formulation and many parameters such as diameter, thickness, weight change, hardness and Fragility were assessed. According to observations, low concentrations of okra mucilage can be used as a substitute for starch in tablet formulation, and also high levels of okra mucilage can be used in the drug release system as a natural substance (Ameena et al, 2010). In a study, Mishra et al presented okra mucilage as a new proposal to replace polymer materials used in various industries (Mishra et al, 2008). In 2014, the effect of okra mucilage on the release of propranolol hydrocolloid in tablets was studied. The highest hardness and lowest brittleness were observed for okra tablets (Zaharuddin et al, 2014). In this research, extraction of okra mucilage was investigated by two methods of solvent and supercritical fluid extraction. Optimization the yield and physicochemical properties of the extract obtained from both methods was also investigated. Materials and methods: Fresh okra obtained from local supermarket in Khuzestan province. Chemicals materials such as pure ethanol, acetone, chloroform, acetonitrile purchased from Merck and Sigma Aldrich. After transferring the okra fruit to the laboratory, the contaminants were removed from the plant and then rinsed thoroughly with water. The okra pods were dried at about 40 °C in a digital fan oven model 6882A. It was powdered by a German-made electric milling machine and then it passed through a 30-mesh sieve to be ready for extraction and it was weighted by laboratory scales (0.0001 precision manufactured by Cornell, Germany). In the solvent extraction process, the okra powder was weighed by a digital balanced (GR-200 model made in Japan) and transferred to 250 ml human. The solids stirred in distilled water and various amounts of solvent for 1 to 5 hours until the mucilage is completely released into the water. The solution was filtered and then adjacent to an organic solvent. Then, the filtrate was poured again into Petri dish and placed on a water bath at 45 °C to evaporate the residual solvent inside it. The residue inside the Petri dish was dried in a fan oven (Reyhan Teb Company) at 40 °C and powdered and kept at 20 °C until the day of analysis. In the supercritical extraction method, the supercritical fluid extraction machine which designed and manufactured in the laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad was used. The carbon dioxide was supplied by Khakakan Co., Quchan Road, Iran in a 45 kg cylinder. Results & Discussion: Generally, according to the results of both methods of solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), the extraction efficiency of mucilage at the optimal point in the solvent extraction and in the supercritical methods was 5.12% and 1.58%, respectively. Due to the less use of organic solvents in the supercritical method, this method is more environmentally friendly, which is significant in converting the laboratory method to pilot or industrial scale. Physio-chemical analysis of mucilage obtained by two methods shows that the index of swelling, moisture and ash of mucilage obtained by maceration is more than that of supercritical mucilage. By comparing the obtained values at the optimal point of both methods, the solvent method has a higher total efficiency and has been more successful. However, in the supercritical fluid method, the solvent utilization is significantly reduced. The extraction time in the supercritical fluid method is also reduced by about 50%.
Forough Gillani; Zeynab Raftani Amiri; Reza Esmailzadeh Kenari
Abstract
Introduction: Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.), which belongs to the family Cornaceae, grows in Iran, in areas such as Qazvin and Arasbaran. The fruit possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and it is used as an herbal remedy in medicine. Separation of natural antioxidant compounds from ...
Read More
Introduction: Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.), which belongs to the family Cornaceae, grows in Iran, in areas such as Qazvin and Arasbaran. The fruit possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and it is used as an herbal remedy in medicine. Separation of natural antioxidant compounds from plant sources requires an appropriate method of extraction, which is effective factor to achieve the higher efficiency of these valuable compounds. In this study, the effect of extraction methods (immersion and ultrasound) and different solvents (ethanol 100%, ethanol – water (50:50 V/V) and water) on amount of phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of cornelian cherry fruit extract were investigated.
Materials and Methods: Qazvin cornelian cherry was purchased from the local market of Amol city, Mazandaran province, Iran. All solvents and chemicals used in this study were of analytical reagent grade and were prepared from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) and Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO). Cornelian cherry was washed, core separated, dried in front of the sun for 5 days and then powdered with kitchen miller. Powdered cornelian cherry fruit was extracted using immersion extraction techniques, ultrasound and different solvents (ethanol 100%, ethanol –water (50:50 V/V) and water). In the immersion method, powdered cornelian cherry fruit were mixed with each solvent in the ratio of 1:10, individually. Then, the mixtures were shaken overnight at room temperature. After 24 hrs, the extracts were filtered through Whatman No. 42 filter paper and the solvents were evaporated in an oven at 55°C. In the ultrasound technique, the mixture of powdered samples with any solvent (1:10) was sonicated in an ultrasonic bath for 45 min at 35°C. The extracts were then filtered and the solvents were evaporated using an oven at 55°C. Finally, the extracts obtained from extraction methods were kept in a freezer for furthere experiments. The total phenolic content of the extracts was determined with the Folin-ciocalteau method, briefly, 0.5 mL of cornelian cherry fruit extracts with concentration of 1mg/mL were mixed with 2.5 mL of Folin–Ciocalteu reagent (previously diluted 10-fold with distilled water) and 2 mL of 7.5% sodium carbonate solution, then the samples were kept for 30 min at room temperature in the dark and at the end the absorbance of the solutions was read at 760 nm. The ability of the extracts to scavenge 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) was determined. 0.3 mL of each extract with a different concentration (500-3000μg/mL) was mixed with 2.7 mL of methanolic solution of DPPH (6 × 10 -5 mole/L), then the mixture was shaken vigorously and was placed in the dark for 60 min. Absorbance was recorded at 517 nm. The percentage of the DPPH radical scavenging was calculated according to the following equation:
% inhibition of DPPH radical= [(ADPPH – AS) / ADPPH] ×100
AS and ADPPH are the absorbance of the solution the absorbance of the DPPH solution, respectively. Reducing power of extracts on iron ion was measured. 1mL of each extract with a different concentration (500-3000μg/mL) was mixed with 2.5 ml of phosphate buffer (0.2 M, pH= 6.6) and 2.5 ml potassium ferricyanide [K3Fe(CN)6] (1%), then the mixture was incubated at 50° C for 30 min. After that, 2.5 ml of 10% trichloroacetic acid were added to the mixture, then, was centrifuged at 1000g for 10 min. Subsequently, 2.5 ml of the upper layer solution was mixed with 2.5 ml of distilled water and 0.5 ml of 0.1% FeCl3. Finally, the absorbance values of the solutions were read at 700 nm.
Results and discussion: The result of this study showed that the type of solvent and extraction method has been effective on amount of phenolic compounds of extracts, and also concentration dependent of phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity was observed in all extracts. The highest amount of phenolic compounds with 142.72 mg/g (based on Galic acid) was observed in sample extract obtained from solvent of water- ethanol (50:50 V/V) employing ultrasound method. Also, this extract with the lowest IC50 value with the amount of 0.955 mg/ml in the DPPH free radical scavenging method and the highest absorption with the amount of 0.601 in the reducing power of Iron III test, the highest antioxidant performance is shown. A negative correlation was observed between the total phenolic content and the IC50 value in the methods of measuring the antioxidant activity (DPPH and reducing power), which revealed the higher total phenolic content will give the lower IC50, that means the higher antioxidant activity. The results of present research showed that cornelian cherry fruit is a natural source of phenolic compounds and have considerable antioxidant activity.