Establishment of pressurized-liquid extraction by response surface methodology approach coupled to HPLC-DAD-TOF-MS for the determination of phenolic compounds of myrtle leaves.

Díaz-de-Cerio, Elixabet; Arráez-Román, David; Segura-Carretero, Antonio; Ferranti, Pasquale; Nicoletti, Rosario; Perrotta, Giuseppe Mirko; Gómez-Caravaca, Ana María

<italic>Myrtus communis</italic> L. (myrtle) is native to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia. Its leaves have demonstrated its potential effect towards different bioactivities like anti-diabetic, anti-diarrheic, anti-ulcer, anti-cancer, among others. These activities have been associated with its phenolic content. In this sense, the aim of this work has been to develop a new pressurized-liquid extraction procedure (PLE), by using a response surface methodology (RSM), to evaluate the phenolic composition from myrtle leaves by HPLC-DAD-TOF-MS. Previously, different solvents such as methanol, ethanol, and acetone/water mixtures were tested by using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in order to select the most suitable one. Subsequently, a Box-Behnken design (BBD) was performed according to the effect of ethanol/water ratio (50, 75, and 100% (<italic>v</italic>/<italic>v</italic>)), temperature (50, 125, and 200 °C), and extraction time (5, 18, and 30 min). The optimal conditions achieved with the established method were 71% ethanol/water, 137 °C, and 19 min. The analysis of the obtained extracts by HPLC-DAD-TOF-MS allowed the characterization of 15 new compounds in myrtle leaves. Finally, high amounts of gallic and ellagic acid were found in the optimized PLE extracts (3.31 ± 0.03 and 3.88 ± 0.09 mg/g leaf dry weight (d.w.), respectively), and PLE reported greater recovery of total phenolic compounds than UAE (30 ± 1 and 22.4 ± 0.6 mg/g leaf d.w., respectively).

MYRTLE (Plants); PHENOLS; HIGH performance liquid chromatography; MYRTACEAE; ALCOHOLS (Chemical class)

Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2018, Vol 410, Issue 15, p3547

1618-2642

Academic Journal

10.1007/s00216-018-0914-0