Extraction and purification of Hesperidin and Naringin from Citrus aurantium var. Amara L. Peel

Citrus aurantium var. amara L. [Rutaceae] is a plant whose fruit, flower and essential oil are used very extensively as well as its vitamins. Because of the importance of vitamin P and considerable amount of flavonoids in the peel of this plant, the ripe and unripe peels of the plant were the subject of this investigation. At first, the extraction of flavonoids [hesperidin and naringin] was carried out by suitable solvents. Then, preparative chromatography procedure was applied for the purification of the two flavonoids. Structures were elucidated by spectroscopic and chemical means. This method of isolation yielded hesperidin 9.8% from ripe and 12% from unripe peels and naringin 0.1% from ripe and unripe peels