Optimization of ultrasonic-assisted extraction of anthraquinones from Heterophyllaea pustulata Hook f. (Rubiaceae) using Taguchi L9 orthogonal design

M.F. BARRERA VAZQUEZ; L.R. COMINI; R.E. MARTINI; S.C. NUÑEZ MONTOYA; S.BOTTINI; J.L. CABRERA

Industrial Crops and Products

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 69 p. 278 - 283

0926-6690

In this study, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was evaluated as an easier and more efficient alternative method for the isolation of anthraquinones (AQs) from Heterophyllaea pustulata Hook f. (Rubiaceae), compared with conventional extraction techniques. The extraction was performed using an ethanol-water solution as solvent. The influence of different operating conditions, as temperature, time, solvent composition and solvent/sample ratio was analyzed. To achieve global optimization of the ultrasound-assisted extraction of H. pustulata, Taguchi experimental design with a L9 orthogonal array was applied. The results showed that the yield obtained with the ultrasound assisted extraction is approximately twice higher than the traditional Soxhlet technique, and Taguchi analysis demonstrated that the most influential factor is solvent concentration, followed by time, temperature and solvent/sample ratio. The optimal combination of these factors on the ultrasound assisted extraction is a 60:40 (v:v) ethanol/water solvent composition , a solvent/sample ratio equal to 20:1, a temperature of 55 ºC and an extraction time of 30 min