engleski

High pressure extraction techniques of chamomile and determination of antioxidant activity and umbelliferone content in obtained extracts

Cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants has increased in recent years and more and more arable land in Croatia is designed specifically for this type of farming. Medicinal and aromatic plants are grown primarily because they contain biologically active components that make up the basic raw material for the production of drugs, cosmetics and flavors for foodstuff. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) has been known as a medicinal plant for a long time, mainly due to its anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and antispasmodic activity. For this reason, chamomile is used as the starting material for consideration in this paper. Among many biologically active compounds found in chamomile, a coumarin derivative, umbelliferone, was also found. The aim of this study was to compare chamomile extracts, produced with various extraction techniques (soxhlet, hydrodestillation, macaretion, supercritical CO2 extraction, high pressure maceration system) based on their antioxidant activity and umbelliferone content determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The following samples of chamomile were analyzed: unprocessed chamomile flowers first class, processed chamomile flowers first class, pulvis and processing waste obtained from the company Matricia Ltd. The greatest extraction yield (22.3%) was obtained with 50% ethanol in high pressure maceration system and the highest yield of umbelliferone (41.03 mg/100g) was obtained using high pressure maceration system. Extracts have also proven to possess antioxidant activity (45.4 - 73.7% DPPH scavenging activity). The significance of this study offers a possibility of potential utilization of waste from chamomile processing, applying different extraction techniques and attaining the final natural product by using supercritical CO2 extraction without any residues of organic solvents and with potential use in the cosmetic industry. Furthermore, a new developed system of maceration under pressure significantly reduces the time of extraction providing extracts with higher antioxidant activity.

chamomile ; extraction ; high pressure ; umbelliferone ; antioxidant activity

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