Extracting strawberry anthocyanins, testing different variables

Flowers, vegetables, and fruits are rich sources of anthocyanins, a group of water-soluble polyphenolic pigments.
The pigments are soluble in water, methanol, and nonpolar solvents such as chloroform.
These pigments have antioxidant activities and play critical roles in plant and human health; therefore, extracting stable pigments with higher concentrations has been the goal of the research community and food and pharmaceutical industries.
There are both simple and sophisticated methods of quantifying and identifying anthocyanins.
Spectrophotometric methods can easily measure the total anthocyanin content.
Other complex and more expensive methods, such as high-pressure liquid chromatography and ultrasound-assisted methods, are also available that identify and quantify the anthocyanin pigment.
Strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) are a rich source of anthocyanins.
Strawberry color affects the appearance, fruit quality, and consumers’ decision-making process.
A large group of factors, such as sample type, temperature, pH, solvent type, and the ratio of its components, affect strawberry anthocyanin yield.
We studied the effect of some of these variables on the anthocyanin yield, profile, and color of strawberries.
Extraction solvents significantly changed the anthocyanin yield.
The results suggest that acidified chloroform:methanol extracted the highest anthocyanin content compared to water-based solvents.
Methanol-water-based solvents also performed better than water alone because methanol and water may extract different profiles of anthocyanins.
Processing time (incubation time) was lowest in the pH differential method; however, the haze produced in this method may interfere with the spectrophotometric assessment of anthocyanins.
Water-based extracts had the greatest absorbance at a lower wavelength (498 nm), followed by methanol (508 nm), and chloroform (530 nm).

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

T. Taghavi, H. Patel, A. Rahemi

pigments, solvents, chloroform, methanol, color parameters

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.61