Abstract
Litsea cubeba (LC) is an indigenous industrial crop in China with fruits possessing interesting essential oil content of 3-5%, which production leads to a large number of kernels as wastes. In this study, the performance of four alternative solvents on the extraction of LC kernel oils was firstly evaluated in comparison with n-hexane as the reference solvent. Regardless of the solvent used, all extracted oils were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed, where green solvents (dimethyl carbonate-DMC and cyclopentyl methyl ether-CPME) were preferred to alcoholic solvents (ethanol and isopropanol) considering their higher extraction yields and similar acylglycerol and fatty acid compositions to oils extracted by n-hexane. Interestingly, micronutrients in oils extracted by green solvents were quantified much higher than that extracted by n-hexane. Apart from common physicochemical properties measured, Hansen solubility parameter and antioxidant activity in vitro were also studied to make a more comprehensive profile for solvent effects and oil functionality. The results indicated that CPME could be the optimal alternative solvent to n-hexane with comparable extractability and selectivity in the green extraction of LC kernel oils as a new promising natural plant oil resource.
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