Production of Dried Extracts of Pterodon emarginatus (Fabaceae) by Atomization

Abstract

The specie Pterodon emarginatus Vogel is popularly known as „sucupira branca“, which is a native tree from Brazilian savanna (cerrado). This tree is used as wood source for carpentry, while the extract from seeds and barks is popularly used as antinflammatory and antimicrobial for throat or gynecologic infections. The alcoholic extract of stem bark of P. emarginatus exhibited both anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities [1]. These biological effects can be associated to the presence of great amount of lupeol, which was taken as chemical marker in these experiments to validate our study. In order to evaluate the process for production of P. emarginatus extracts dried by atomization (spray dryer) on a laboratory scale, an experimental factorial design (22) was carried out for the following variables: inlet temperature and air flow. The higher and lower levels for temperature were 100°C and 110°C and for airflow were 35 L/min and 40 L/min. The experimental responses were dried powder yield and lupeol content, which were determined by HPLC. The main effects and interactions of these experimental responses were calculated using the free software Octave. Micrographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of all spray-dried powders were used to examine particle morphology. Experimental results suggest that both temperature and air flow showed a positive effect on yield. However, the interaction between these variable showed a negative effect, which this can be explained by the reduction of the overall yield caused by augmentation of airflow when the experiment was carried out at 110°C. It was observed that there was no significant effect of inlet temperature and airflow on lupeol content. SEM images analysis showed that all powders have a non-uniform morphology. It was observed that particles with different sizes had a tendency to form agglomerates, particularly for the sample obtained at 100°C and 40 L/min. Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás (FAPEG) for financial support and to Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncroton (LNLS) for SEM analysis.