Comparative content analysis of biologically active substances in citrus peel

Abstract

The analysis of the documents of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation shows that in 2021, there were 38.44 million cases of acute upper respiratory infections of multiple and unspecified localization, which accounted for 75.8% of all infectious and parasitic diseases. Researchers are interested in the creation of drugs for the treatment and prevention of acute respiratory viral infections using extracts and essential oils of plants with antiviral activity. Among the significant number of essential oil plants with potential antibacterial and antiviral effects, plants of the citrus family are of particular interest. The citrus fruits are widely used by the food industry, and the peel of the fruits is an industrial waste of food production. It is known that the peel of orange, tangerine, and lemon contains such valuable biologically active groups of substances as flavonoids, polyphenolic compounds, and essential oil, which allows considering this product as a potential source of novel medicines and preventive agents. The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of aqueous and aqueous-alcoholic extracts from citrus peel using a complex of pharmacopoeial qualitative reactions. The quantitative determination of the content of extractive substances extracted with 45% and 70% ethyl alcohol and water was carried out, and the quantitative content of essential oil, flavonoids, tannins, and ascorbic acid was established.