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Oils play a key role as raw materials in a variety of industries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of Datura innoxia seed oil cultivated in Saudi Arabia for industrial purpose and to study the effects of hexane, chloroform, and isopropanol as extraction solvents on the compositions of the extracts. The results showed that the hexane and chloroform extracts were mainly neutral oils which were rich in linoleic (≈46%) and oleic (≈31%) acids. However, the isopropanol extract contained large amount of neutral oil and organic acids. Neutral oil contained mainly palmitic acid (40.2%) and some important and valuable epoxy (15.4%) and cyclopropane (13.2%) fatty acids. Analysis of the sterol and tocopherol levels of the crude and purified oil extracted revealed that they were significantly affected by the extraction solvent used.

Background: Chrysophyllum albidum is a well-known medicinal plant in Africa and has many medicinal properties. This study investigated the effect of sonication, solvent polarity (acetone and ethanol), and plant matrix (bark and seeds) on the antioxidant property of C. albidum. The bark of C. albidum was subjected to sonication and soaking with acetone to evaluate the effect of sonication on the antioxidant property, and C. albidum bark and seeds were subjected to ultrasonic-assisted extraction of acetone and ethanol to evaluate the effect of solvents and plant matrix on the antioxidant property of C. albidum. The phytochemical composition, total flavonoid content, total antioxidant activity, total phenol content, lipid peroxidation (LPO) inhibition activity, nitric oxide, and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals scavenging activities were evaluated in all extracts. Results: Sonication increased the percentage yield of extracts compared to maceration. Flavonoids and terpenoids were present, while saponins were absent in all extracts evaluated. Ultrasound-assisted extraction increased C. albidum antioxidant property compared to maceration. Ethanol was the most suitable solvent for C. albidum bark, while acetone was the most suitable solvent for C. albidum seeds. C. albidum bark extracts were most active as free radical scavengers, while the seed extracts were most active as inhibitors of lipid peroxidation. Conclusions: Extraction technique, extraction solvent, and plant matrix significantly affect the antioxidant properties of C. albidum. This study indicates that the selection of an effective extraction process for medicinal plants depends on the phytochemical compound responsible for the biological activity of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ascorbic acid or vitamin C is mostly found in natural products such as fruits and vegetables. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed and validated to compare the ascorbic acid content in Benincasa hispida (Bh) fruit extract with three different extraction solvents; i) 3% metaphosphoric acid, ii) 3% citric acid and iii) distilled water. The compound has been detected and quantified by the use of HPLC coupled with UV-Vis detector. The amount of ascorbic acid detected in Bh fruit extract prepared with different extraction solvents; 3% metaphosphoric acid, 3% citric acid and distilled water were 13.18, 7.91 and 9.42 mg/100g respectively. Total run time was 6 min and the retention time was 2.60 min. Calibration curve was linear with the concentration range 1.00 -- 16.00 µg/ml. Limits of detection was 0.24 µg/ml, limit of quantification was 0.81 µg/ml and recovery was 93.52%. The result showed ascorbic acid content is higher in Bh fruit extract with 3% metaphosphoric acid, followed by extract with distilled water and 3% citric acid. Thus, Bh is another novel fruit/ vegetable potentially used as food ingredient as it contains a good source of ascorbic acid that can be good for one's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Thirty-seven raw vegetables were extracted using four solvent systems: 70% acetone, 70% ethanol, 70% methanol, and distilled water. The extracts were tested for their total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activities (using diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays). The results revealed the effect of different extracting solvents in altering the quantitative analyses of all vegetables and 70% acetone was identified as the most efficient solvent for extracting polyphenolic antioxidants from the vegetables. The highest total phenolic content and total flavonoid content were obtained from 70% acetone extract of Portulaca oleracea (138.2±2.1mg GAE/g dw basis) and 70% methanol extract of Cosmos caudatus (27.7±1.0mg QE/g dw basis), respectively. The 70% acetone extract of Etlingera elatior with moderate amount of total phenolic content exhibited the highest antioxidant activity in both assays. The correlation analyses within 37 different extracts of each solvent extraction demonstrated weak to moderate relationships between all the studied parameters. The highest r value of 0.7139 (p <0.001) was determined between total phenolic contents and FRAP values of the 70% methanol extracts. Meanwhile, a wide range of correlation coefficients was derived from correlation analyses within four different extracts of each vegetable, with the highest relationship between total phenolic contents and FRAP values for the extracts of Coriandrum sativum (r =0.9998, p <0.001). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Bio-oil yields and quality were affected by extraction solvents and reaction media. • Acetone recovered the highest oil yield produced in water–ethanol mixed solvent. • Ethanol was the least efficient extraction solvent in recovering bio-oil product. • Bio-oil obtained using dichloromethane had higher C/H contents and better quality. • Acetone led to the highest carbon/energy recovery but higher O content in the bio-oil. In this work, the effects of extraction solvents: acetone, ethanol, dichloromethane (DCM) and ethyl acetate (EA), on the yields and characteristics of bio-oil products obtained from liquefaction of rubberwood sawdust (RS) at 300 ℃ for 30 min in water, ethanol or water–ethanol mixed solvent (50/50, v/v) were comparatively studied. When pure water or ethanol was used as the reaction medium, the highest bio-oil yield was obtained by acetone (30.41 wt%) or EA (31.69 wt%), respectively. Besides, significantly higher bio-oil yields were observed in RS liquefaction in water–ethanol mixed solvent with the maximum bio-oil yield of 56.67 wt% obtained by acetone. But ethanol was always the least efficient in recovering bio-oil in all cases. Besides, the elemental analysis showed that DCM was conducive to recover the bio-oil products with lower oxygen contents and the higher HHVs, while the acetone-extracted bio-oils were worse in quality. However, the highest carbon recovery (CR) and energy recovery (ER) were obtained by acetone due to its higher bio-oil yield produced in water–ethanol mixed solvent. As suggested by GC–MS, GPC and TGA analysis, the extraction solvents and reaction mediums both greatly affected the chemical compositions of the bio-oil products. Phenols were dominant in bio-oil products, followed by hydrocarbons, ketones, esters, etc. Acetone tended to extract the bio-oil with larger carbon numbers and molecular weights, which might explain its higher bio-oil recovery yield in water or water–ethanol mixed solvent. DCM was beneficial to recover the bio-oil was more light compounds with smaller molecular weights and lower boiling point distribution. But for the liquefaction in pure ethanol, more similar chemical compositions were observed among different samples when compared to the cases in other reaction mediums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]