Ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents as sustainable alternatives for efficient extraction of phenolic compounds from mate leaves.

Mate leaves are highly appreciated in south and central America as food ingredient for tea preparation. Their nutritional importance, due to their high content of polyphenols and other nutraceuticals, has been drawing attention worldwide, especially to produce extracts and biopharmaceuticals. However, the extraction of such nutraceuticals using conventional processes/solvents might impact their profile/concentration. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DES) have been recognized as green solvents, and more recently the naturally-derived have stood out. In this work, we investigated the use of bioethanol, cholinium chloride ([Ch]Cl), Ch-based DES and less expensive protic ILs derived from acetic acid, in aqueous systems at different concentrations, as potential sustainable alternatives over conventional solvents and more expensive aprotic ILs for the extraction of polyphenols from mate leaves. Simply adding the [Ch]Cl in aqueous-ethanolic mixtures at 50% improved extraction efficiency (∼35 mg/g) in comparison to conventional solvents (∼7-29 mg/g). However, IL (∼41-66 mg/g) and DES (∼47-55 mg/g) systems presented better performance, being the former presenting the best results at 75% (∼66 mg/g). The extraction yield was also related to water concentration, which is interesting to reduce viscosity and IL/DES cost for a more cost-efficient extraction and was also supported by results obtained using COSMO-SAC. Therefore, the low-cost protic IL and DES are promising sustainable solvent alternatives over conventional solvents/ILs for extraction of polyphenols from mate leaves.

Influence of gamma radiation on the antimicrobial activity of crude extracts of Anacardium occidentale L., Anacardiaceae, rich in tannins

Anacardium occidentale L. Anacardiaceae, known as cashew, commonly found in northeastern of Brazil, has high levels of secondary metabolites, particularly tannins, used as raw material for herbal medicines. An efficient alternative to decontaminate plant products is the total sterilization or reduction of the initial microbial count, the process of gamma irradiation with 60Co. The objective of this study was to analyze the antimicrobial activity of crude extracts of bark and leaves of A. occidentale, based on the quantification of total phenols and tannins, before and after exposure to gamma radiation from 60Co. The extracts were obtained in the laboratory by cold maceration in ethanol, filtered and dryness. They were divided into non-irradiated control group (0 kGy) and irradiated: groups exposed to gamma radiation at doses of 5, 7.5 and 10 kGy. The total phenols was obtained by the Folin-Ciocalteau method and tannins, by the precipitation of casein. The antimicrobial potential activities of these extracts were also evaluated. The results showed that gamma radiation doses employed in this study did not influence statistically the percentage of total phenols and tannins in the bark extracts, at levels ranging from 5.73±0.14 and 5.20±0.14, respectively. The levels of metabolites in the leaves were statistically (p<0.05) influenced by radiation, observed average total phenols between 3.13±0.04 (0 kGy) and 3.50±0.08 (10 kGy), and tannin between 2.47±0.06 (0 kGy) and 2.93±0.04 (10 kGy). The extracts of bark and leaves were active against Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Candida albicans. Gamma radiation caused an increase in antimicrobial activity of extracts against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive), with average inhibition zones for shells: 14.33±058 (0 kGy) and 22.33±0.58 (10 kGy), and leaves: 11.33±0.58 (0 kGy) and 19.00±1.00 (10 kGy). Exposure to radiation caused changes in physical and chemical constituents of phenolic extracts of leaves of cashew, increasing levels of tannins.