Nuclear chemistry

Deep eutectic solvent

Supercritical carbon dioxide

Chloroform

Biology

High-performance liquid chromatography

Chromatography

Crocetin

Biochemistry

Gardenia jasminoides

Solvent

Botany

Traditional Chinese medicine

Crocus sativus

Sonication

Alternative medicine

Extraction (chemistry)

Organic chemistry

Alloy

Eutectic system

Gardenia

Medicine

Chemistry

Carotenoid

Pathology

Food Chemistry

This study proposed natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) based pulse-ultrasonication-assisted extraction (P-UAE) for green recovery of crocins from gardenia fruits (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis). Choline chloride-1,2-propylene glycol (ChCl-PG, 1:2.5, mol/mol) with 35 % (v/v) water content was tailor-made to obtain the highest extraction efficiency with high surface tension, polarity, conductivity, pH, and low viscosity, density for affinity-based extraction of crocins. The optimized P-UAE conditions (extraction time 120 s, ultrasonic power 400 W, solvent-to-solid ratio 40 mL g-1, extraction temperature 35 ℃) led to the maximum yield of crocins (36.97 mg g-1 DW). The second-order kinetic model was fitted to the extraction process and the synergistic effect was verified by SEM and FTIR. The crocetin was identified as the main compound by UPLC-Triple-TOF/MS. The antiglycative effect and protective effect on DNA indicated the bioactive activities of crocins. Therefore, the ChCl-PG based P-UAE could serve as a green strategy to effectively extract crocins from gardenia fruits.

Integrated natural deep eutectic solvent and pulse-ultrasonication for efficient extraction of crocins from gardenia fruits (Gardenia jasminoides Ellis) and its bioactivities