Evaluation of the chemical composition and quantification of capsaicin in oleoresin from peppers of the genus Capsicum spp.

Abstract

Capsaicinoids are natural compounds characteristic of peppers that condition their spicy flavor. The fruits are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries as they have anticancer, antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Extracts are normally obtained using organic solvents as they are efficient in transporting bioactives such as capsaicin. Therefore, the present work aimed to extract and quantify the capsaicinoids found in fruits and seeds of pepper accessions of the genus Capsicum from the active germplasm bank of the Instituto Federal do Espírito Santo. The extraction process was carried out using 99.8% P.A. ethanol as solvent using Soxhlet equipment, and for quantification of capsaicin a UV-Vis spectrophotometer was used at 280 nm. The oleoresin yield was 33% in relation to the dry pepper mass. To determine the amount of capsaicin in the sample, a calibration curve was constructed with the standard ~95%. The concentrations of capsaicins in the extracts were found in the ranges of 97.81 and 419.79 mg. g-1. The analysis of variance presented a coefficient of variance of 0.3%, which means that no difference occurred at 5% significance using the Tukey test. The samples of the Ifes 100 and Ifes 71 accessions, of the species Capsicum baccatum var. pendulum and Capsicum frutescens, respectively, with the highest amounts of capsaicins per mass of extract and the accessions Ifes 56 and Ifes 62 presented the lowest amounts of capsaicin, both corresponding to the species Capsicum chinense. The Soxhlet extraction method, with organic solvent ethanol, was efficient in transporting capsaicinoid compounds, presenting a yield of around 33% in the formation of oleoresin. The process of quantifying capsaicinoid compounds proved to be efficient, identifying the presence of the active capsaicin in the accesses analyzed, identifying genotypes of interest to be explored in crop improvement.