NaDES is a future solvent

Yeay! We have published our brand new research output in open access high impact journal Sustainability. Thank you for co-authors for your input and contribution. The research involves the assessment of physicochemical properties of our in-house green solvent, natural deep eutectic solvent for its feasibility in extracting bioactive compounds, flavonoids from agricultural biomass. We use conventional organic solvent, methanol as gold standard to evaluate its performance. The article also discusses on their toxicity profiles and radical scavenging properties of developed NaDES. Thus, the articles has provided some initial insights on the potential use of NaDES as extraction media. With great potential and many more research to come, we hope NaDES can be our future green solvent. Let's see another decade perhaps for it to become a reality.

Abstract

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) leaf (OPL) is abundantly generated from oil palm plantations as biomass that is rich in bioactive metabolites, primarily flavonoids. Six natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDES) were synthesized using a direct heating technique from different combinations of choline chloride with 1,2-propanediol (PD), 1,4-butanediol (BD), glycerol (GLY), glucose (GLU), maltose (MAL) and lactic acid (LA). The synthesized NaDES were subjected to physicochemical and biological evaluations comprising physical appearance, density, water activity, viscosity, polarity, thermal behaviors, spectroscopic analysis, cytotoxicity, radical scavenging activities and solubility tests. Compared to aqueous methanol, the synthesized NaDES, which appeared as a slightly to moderately viscous transparent liquid, showed favorable physicochemical properties as extraction solvents with a low cytotoxicity profile on cultured fibroblast cells. Further, the NaDES obtained from the choline chloride: lactic acid (LA) combination showed high free radical scavenging characteristics. Hydrogen bonding interactions were shown to play a significant role in the formation of the NaDES. Further, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet/ photodiode array (UHPLC-UV/ PDA) analysis revealed that the NaDES from the choline chloride: glycerol (GLY) combination had comparable efficiencies with aqueous methanol regarding extracting flavonoids (luteolin and apigenin derivatives) from OPLs. The results of the present study suggested that the tailor-made NaDES were not only easy-to-use, stable and safe solvents but also suitable for extracting bioactive phytochemical compounds. The study highlighted their potential as an alternative green technology for applications in oil palm biomass utilization programs.

Full length article: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132312981

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