Abstract
Nectandra grandiflora Nees (Lauraceae) is a Brazilian native tree recognized by its durable wood and the antioxidant compounds of its leaves. Taking into account that the forest industry offers the opportunity to recover active compounds from its residues and by-products, this study identifies and underlines the potential of natural products from Nectandra grandiflora that can add value to the forest exploitation. This study shows the effect of three different extraction methods: conventional (CE), ultrasound-assisted (UAE) and microwave-assisted (MAE) on Nectandra grandiflora leaf extracts (NGLE) chemical yields, phenolic and flavonoid composition, physical characteristics as well as antioxidant and antifungal properties. Results indicate that CE achieves the highest extraction phytochemical yield (22.16%), but with similar chemical composition to that obtained by UAE and MAE. Moreover, CE also provided a superior thermal stability of NGLE. The phenolic composition of NGLE was confirmed firstly, by colorimetric assays and infrared spectra and then by chromatographic analysis, in which quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside was detected as the major compound (57.75–65.14%). Furthermore, the antioxidant capacity of the NGLE was not altered by the extraction methods, finding a high radical inhibition in all NGLE (>80% at 2 mg/mL). Regarding the antifungal activity, there was observed that NGLE possess effective bioactive compounds, which inhibit the Aspergillus niger growth.
Highlights
Innovative and environmental-friendly approaches are the key to increase the profitability, economic viability and sustainability in the forest industry by optimizing the process in order to obtain high-valued products
The present study aims to address the unexplored potential of Nectandra grandiflora co-products describing the phenolic composition, thermal behavior, antioxidant and antifungal properties of its leaf extracts obtained by alternative green processes (MAE and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE))
The three extraction methods applied on Nectandra grandiflora leaves showed significantly different yields of phytochemicals (Table 1)
Summary
Innovative and environmental-friendly approaches are the key to increase the profitability, economic viability and sustainability in the forest industry by optimizing the process in order to obtain high-valued products (bio/chemicals and biomaterials). Several techniques have been described for extracting active natural compounds from low-cost raw material [3]. These procedures include the so-called heating systems, such as traditional Soxhlet and heat reflux extraction [4,5], ultrasound-assisted extraction [6,7] and microwave-assisted extraction [8,9], as well as supercritical fluid and pressurized extraction [10,11] or the combination of these extraction techniques [12]. The ideal extraction procedure has to retain the maximum of the bioactive constituents in a shortest processing time with low economic costs [13] and low environmental impact [14]. Several studies reported the efficiency of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) for increasing the content of polyphenols [9,17]
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