Otimização do processo extrativo de Phyllanthus niruri L.

Abstract

Phyllanthus niruri L., known as stone breaker, is a plant in the Phyllanthaceae family, belonging to the genus Phyllanthus.In this study, the factorial design was evaluated to study the importance of factors (concentration of ethanol and extractionprocess) on the concentration of flavonoids and phenolic compounds present in P. niruri extracts. Different extracts ofP. niruri was prepared using 50 and 96% ethanol, using three different extraction methods: maceration, percolation andultrasound. The quantification of flavonoids was performed by the spectrophotometric method with 10% AlCl3 (v/v) inwater. The Folin-Ciocalteu method were employed for the quantification of phenolic compounds. The analyses wereperformed in triplicate and the results were analyzed using the Minitab18® and Prisma GraphPad® software. Significantdifferences (p≤0.05) were observed in the values of flavonoids and total phenolic compounds in the extracts producedfrom P. niruri, when different extraction processes were used, as well as different concentrations of ethanol. Analyzing thePareto graphs, it was possible to verify that the solvent concentration was the effect that most contributed to the extractionof both bioactive compounds. Checking the interaction graphs, it was possible to identify that 96% ethanol positivelyinfluenced the extraction of flavonoids and 50% ethanol influenced the extraction of phenolic compounds. Thus, thefactorial design applied to the extraction process of P. niruri showed that the extraction of flavonoids can be carried outefficiently by traditional extraction methods, maceration or percolation, using 96% ethanol as a solvent. The optimizedconditions for the extraction of phenolic compounds are by percolation or ultrasound with 50% ethanol.