RESEARCH ARTICLE
Antioxidant Activity and Phenolic Content of Extracts Obtained by Pressurized Liquid Extraction

This research used the Pressurized Liquid Extraction process (PLE) to obtain cambuci extracts rich in phenolic compounds and, consequently, with high antioxidant activity.

We determined the centesimal composition and the mean particle size of the dried and crushed sample for characterization of the fixed bed extractor. Extractions with pressurized ethanol were performed following a Central Composite Design (CCD) with temperature (60 °C at the center point with ± 10 °C amplitude) and the contact time between the solvent and the matrix (6 min at the center point with ± 2 min amplitude) as independent variables in the process. The Total Phenolic Content (TPC) of compounds and antioxidant activity were determined.

The mean particle size of the cambuci in the PLE was 263.4 μm with apparent and real densities of 32.42 g/cm³ and 1.62 g/cm³, respectively, resulting in a fixed bed porosity of 0.43. The centesimal composition of the comminuted and dried sample was 12.5 ± 0.1% moisture, 3.2 ± 0.2% ash, 3.35 ± 0.07% crude protein, 10.32 ± 0.08% crude fiber and 0.35 ± 0.04% ethereal extract. The highest extraction yield (41.7%) was obtained by using the binomial 70 ºC with 8 min of solvent contact in three batches. Extracts with the highest TPC (6501.10 mg AGE/100 g sample) were obtained by the binomial 74 °C with 6 min of contact; the binomial 50 °C with 4 min of contact gave rise to the extract with the highest antioxidant activity. The CCD showed high yield extracts with high antioxidant activity and a high total phenolic compound content.

With the use of the proposed experimental design, it was possible to optimize the extraction of total phenolic compounds from the sample.